Congratulations @LKnomad!, how does one become a senior member? I was just promoted to Junior…
@ReminiscingDad To become a senior member you have to have 1000 posts. I confess I have been tending towards smaller, more frequent posts rather than longer posts as I inch closer to that status!
only 877 posts to go. 
And BTW, even if I wanted to I don’t have time to make a new avatar because I need suddenly to attend to my fragile mother in Florida who hasn’t been doing well. Used up some Southwest flight credits from canceling the trip to a school that was a rejection, squeezing it in before our spring break school visit. Sandwich time, anyone?
@crowlady Hope your mother recovers soon.
@crowlady - I’m so sorry about your mom. My mom passed some years ago and my dad’s not getting any younger. This month is a particularly hard time to feel like the peanut butter between two slices of bread, though. Safe travels, and all my best to you.
I’ve been in the middle of that sandwich too @crowlady Lots of aloha to you and your mom.
Sorry to hear, @crowlady – hope things go well for you and her while you’re there.
@crowlady Best thoughts to you and your mom.
Hugs @crowlady and all the best to your family.
Hugs to you @crowlady. So many friends in the same boat right now!
wishing you and your mom well @crowlady
I’m not going to go back and look for verification, but I think @AsleepAtTheWheel and I disagreed about posting EA outcomes, or intent to file EA, or something like that. I was for it, (“can’t feel upset if you don’t put your name in the hat,” or something like that) and Asleep spoke to the same issues of sensitivity being spoken to here in this part of the thread. That is consistency and reveals something of the heart and spirit of the poster.
I do completely see the impetus behind Asleep’s post on the avatar thing, though. Something here, in this end, feels different and more tongue-poking than at the other end to me. I sense what I believe Asleep was being quite judicious about.
What we post, each of us, reveals more than what we think it does. There is that which the writer writes, and that which the reader extrapolates, interprets, relates to and processes meaningfully each unto her own. It is a relationship, our telling through the word, that is actually only completed by the reader/the listener. This completion is just as meaningful as the words at the start.
EDITS: for quotes above
Hugs, @crowlady. In fact, HUGS to ALL today.
We’ve seen some lovely cherry blossoms too this week, @ReminiscingDad. How are you doing that nifty italicizing, @petrichor11? I consider your lovely kids superstars, @RyanG1207. In fact, I sort of see all our kids as superstars on this list because they are ours (that would be italicized if I were as smart as Petrichor). At the barbecue that @palm715 is hosting in just a few weeks, I hope she’ll have a slide show from her China trip. And congrats on your new status, @LKnomad.
Sort of glad I am not summarizing today.
@crowlady I hope your mother is well very soon. It can be stressful for everyone being far away and trying to fit in all that you need to in a short amount of time.
Thinking of you @crowlady. Hope things go well with your mom. I am living in the sandwich until S leaves this fall. It can be tough.
Hugs to you and your mom @crowlady :x
Thanks @AsleepAtTheWheel and others. I will let D read you thoughts and suggestions.
I would just like to say that I agree of course that things can definitely be inferred from our posts. We also bring our own backgrounds and issues to the party. I have been fairly honest about the fact that we wanted our son to go away to school, partly because we felt it would be good for him, but yes, also because we didn’t have such opportunities and would’ve loved them. All of this to say, if by chance I write something that sounds off or insensitive, please PM me and let me know. I surely wouldn’t intentionally do that.
[/italics] let’s see if this works
There’s a thread about changing colors/fonts: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/community-forum-issues/1111431-how-to-change-font-sizes-and-colors.html