The best bit of advice is that from Omega Girl - if people ring you up to insult you, ring off!

A piece of wisdom from my father, dead and gone for about 20 years - I have lost count exactly how long - Daddy always used to tell me that "There are 2 kinds of people in the world, Friends, and Relations. The difference is, that you can CHOOSE your friends."

It is very hard to understand why so many of you who live over on the other side of the Atlantic still cling to these ancient superstitions in an age of such scientific understanding of the cosmos and the physics and chemistry of Life. I have a hypothesis, that "Faiths" are a kind of non-physical viral parasitic life-form, consisting of faulty bits of information rather than faulty bits of DNA. These Meme Viri behave just like other parasitic living beings do, they seek to invade a suitable host (a human brain), to grow inside it, taking over cells and diverting functions, changing behaviour in the infected, they respond to outside stimuli just like a DNA-based life from does, and they seek to reproduce and spread their kind (by preaching and infecting other brains!). I noticed that the oldest of them have adjusted to do relatively less harm to their hosts, but that the younger species or strains are the most virulent. Southern Baptist, the Mormons (we call them 'the Morons' over here!), Jehova's Witnesses and Scientologist strains and the Jehadist and Wahabist Moham-mad strains are deadly harmful to the poor infected hosts, but older examples, like RC and CoE Christinsanity, and milder sorts of Judaism are relatively benign, requiring only a few dietary restrictions or joining in funny feasts or minor dressing restrictions of their victims. I compare these god-viri with the Influenza Virus, that when it first invaded humans as hosts, in 1918, killed millions, but less than 100 years later is deadly only to the elderly, infants, and the weak or immune suppressed.

When my children reached adulthood, I told them that our parent / child relationship was now over, that if they wanted to stay in touch we should from now on be Friends, and that my name is Briar. They agreed not to call me Mum or Dad, and their children have agreed not to call me Grandma or Grandad, but to address me by my name(s). We all get along really well, as Friends.

My brother and sister-in-law, who are conservative Christians who are pretty sure God never made a mistake in terms of gender, still love me and help me out.

I wish your son would see the light, but in the meantime, remember you are loved.

Hi babe's!
Last time I skyped you, you were enjoying a week up in the boondocks feeding the bears or something. How the hell did that pratt get hold of you or did you answer because you were hoping for a reasoned, balanced, constructive conversation.

Skype you soon babes. x