Columns

I’m looking forward to Sunday, and not just because it’s the weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, I love weekends; but this Sunday is a special one. This Sunday will be my first Mother’s Day with my son.

Two years ago, I couldn’t imagine myself as a mother. I had lots of practice mothering both my sister and my dog. They didn’t always like it, but like a mother, I was always there for them.

When my sister was little I helped give her a bottle and change her diaper. As she got older, I bossed her around and chased away neighborhood bullies.

I was pretty excited to see the photo page on the Brunswick County Special Olympics in last week’s sports section.

The excitement of competition was evident on all the participants’ faces—smiling and cheering, excitedly (although some timidly) working toward their goals. The young man with the shy smile holding the golf club really made me smile.

A survey recently conducted for the Kaiser Family Foundation found the rapidly increasing cost of gasoline is the No. 1 “economic woe” facing families in the United States.

The survey, which was meant to measure how changes in the economy have affected everyday life, showed 44 percent of participants said paying for gas is “a serious problem.”

I was half asleep watching the ticker creep across the bottom of CNN Headline News when a headline caught my eye.

The ticker read, “The first economic stimulus payments are in the mail, four days earlier than anticipated.”

It then went on to say the government hoped this would stimulate the sluggish economy.

I am not sure how they expect the miniscule $300, $600 and $900 checks to stimulate the economy. Most people will barely be able to catch their bills up with that check.