<p>I too was bummed when my daughter broke up with her boyfriend. He was great and nice and his Mom is one of my best friends. Oh, well, he’s still all that and they are pals again. As they would both say, it’s all good.</p>
<p>kitkattail:
Ooooh, this is a good omen, then: son has been indicating items he’d like included in my “Mom’s Greatest Hits” cookbook which I’ve been writing this summer for him to take with him to school. He says that if he follows my recipes closely enough, my reputation as an amazing cook will preceed me and his friends will want to flock to me when I visit.</p>
<p>This is sounding better. 
But… what if his girlfriend only eats celery and rice cakes? (I’ve been through that phase myself, btw, so I know it can happen.) Just askin’.</p>
<p>Buy reeeeeally high-quality celery and rice cakes. Adorn with fat-free ranch dressing and tasty wheat germ! ;)</p>
<p>I’ll second the “more food is better” idea. For the five years that my boyfriend and I have been dating, he’s come to my grandparents’ houses (both sets live in the same city) for <em>two</em> full Thanksgiving dinners at a time, for all five years. We have fast for days ahead of time to prepare for the all-day feasting. =) Granted, geography was a factor in where we ended up for the holidays, but the extra food sure was nice.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>I’m a vegetarian. PM or email for tasty recipes (and even you won’t miss the meat ). Rice-cake-eater problem solved.</p>
<p>My S and his girlfriend have been dating for many years. They were friends since they were 8, and obviously, we are friends with her parents. This past year her mom was diagnosed with early onset alzheimers (sp?) and has been hospitalized. It has been very tramatic for S’s girlfriend. It was her first year away at college and she was dealing not only with that but also with so much loss and grief. I was very happy that she turned to me as kind of a surrogate. Her dad and I talk quite a bit, and he is glad that she has a woman to talk to about everything from college stuff to the deeper issues of her feelings about what is going on with her mom. It is weird though, because wrapped up in all of that is her relationship with my S. I am walking a fine line trying not to take sides in disagreements they have, but it is tough because I love them both. I often feel conflicted because I understand the pain she is going through, and I don’t know if my S has the maturity to deal with this. If they break up, I know that she and I will remain friends, maybe not as close as we are now though, which I guess is natural. I hope she knows that I would miss that closeness. </p>
<p>Sorry I am rambling, but you can probably tell I have complicated and conflicted feelings about this.</p>
<p>ag54 - Your story touched me. Wonderful that you are there for her. The complications of your situation are obvious, since who knows how long S and GF will be a pair. But you seem to be very aware of all the aspects and doing your best, which appears to be a wonderful job. We DO love our kids’ close friends, don’t we? And hope to be able to keep them in our lives.</p>