At 08:12 AM 12/11/02 -0600, you wrote:
 >Poor Reid.... (though obviously, I'm impressed by the thinks he thunks)
 >He asked this morning, if I hadn't met Dad but married someone else,
 >would he (Reid) still be Reid?

  You have entered another "difficult" stage of 
parenting.  ==hugs==  Having been the same kind of child ("But what if 
you'd never had children?  Would I exist?  Or would I have never been 
born?"  These questions lead to theological or existential answers, and are 
best suited for the seminary, not a harried mother trying to fit a costume 
for tomorrow's school play or cook a Thanksgiving feast for twenty-two, 
including 2 toddlers), I can sympathize with both of you.

You did a good job of explaining, I can see.

Although invoking science can make for a VERY long explanation.  Mother 
just said, "No, I think you'd have still been born, but you'd have had to 
choose another set of parents."  My personal belief is that when babies 
(souls) are waiting to be born, they get to sit up on their cloud in Heaven 
with a couple of angels helping them look at the possible parents, and they 
have a few choices.  The choice they make will determine what gifts they 
get and how they start out.  But the rest of it is up to 
them.*  Apparently, I picked my parents for various reasons . . . and so 
did he . . . and things are turning out as they were meant to.

However, these kinds of explanations can lead to far more detailed 
discussions than the science-based ones, so it's just as well to avoid them 
if you can.  "Where did I come from?"  "Cincinnati, kid. 
Now hand me the 
screwdriver and hold on to that hubcap a minute."



* Of course, the angels make sure the adventurers "forget" about
everything 
the moment they arrive on Earth.  That's what that little indentation in 
the middle of your upper lip is from--the philtrum, anatomists call 
it.  That's where the angel put his or her finger across your lips and 
said, "Now go, and sh-h-h . . . don't tell anything you saw up here."

P. S.  I'm having an alarming symptom having to do with, um, women's 
troubles . . . if anyone's praying, please put in a good word for Shalanna, 
as well.
- - - -
Nine out of ten doctors recommend reading my books.  The tenth is a quack.
Shalanna Collins                                          shalanna{at}attbi.com
_Dulcinea: or Wizardry A-Flute_ by Shalanna Collins (e-mail me for excerpt)
ISBN 0-7388-5388-7 trade paperback  http://home.attbi.com/~shalanna/>

--- Rachel's Little NET2FIDO Gate v 0.9.9.8 Alpha