Rhonda, It is an absolute shame that most of this generation of children has such little respect for the parents who raised them. Please don't be ashamed of your feelings and attitudes concerning Christa, since they are normal. Her behavior reflects an ungreatful, irresponsible character, which is probably just like that of most of her peers. She needs a lot of prayer. The Lord is able to reach her when no one else can. My X wife and I were blessed to be able to raise two wonderful sons. My younger son, Ben, has normal sight; and when he turned fourteen in 1986, we were able to get a hardship driver's license for him. According to the license, he was supposed to have at least one parent with him in the car, drive only during daylight hours, and stay within a ten mile radius of home. I had a good job in those days; so I bought a new car for the family, and I was able to afford the very expensive insurance. Ben was a very responsible driver; and as far as we know, he was never ashamed to transport his parents or elder brother. When Ben turned sixteen, he, of course, acquired his regular driver's license; and we were all happy for him. My elder son, Sam, graduated from the Ohio State School for the Blind in 1989, at the age of nineteen. He wanted to attend the Emil Fries Piano Hospital and Training Center in Vancouver, Washington, which is just across the state line from Portland, Oregon. I asked seventeen-year-old Ben if he would be willing to drive us out there. "Are you serious?" he asked incredulously. He couldn't believe that I would trust him on such a long trip! We traveled approximately six hundred miles for each of four days. We spent three days out west, during which we saw where Sam would be attending school, met the family he would be staying with, and visited the Pacific Ocean. Then we left Sam; and the three of us made the twenty-five-hundred-mile, four-day journey home. We were proud of how extremely well Ben handled the five thousand plus mile trip in every detail. He had no other eyes to help him find gas stations, restaurants, motels, etc.. The entire responsibility was on him! That was the first of three major trips west I took with Ben, and each of them by a different route. Both Sam and he have grown up to be very responsible adults, and they are both believers. I thank God for my two sons; and sometimes I wonder how I'm blessed with such wonderful offspring, when the children of better christians than me turn out less well. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rhonda Partain" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 10:08 PM Subject: a parent question Hi, have a question for all you visually impaired or blind parents with sighted teens: Ben and I bought Christa a car, a 200 Kooger about a year ago. We have payed the insurance until Ben started r3eceiving a Ssdi check for Christa, he gave her part of the money and she payed her insurance with it. We no longer get the check for her since she is now 18. The thing is, her car recently had a lot of work done, a fuel pump which was 500 dollars, I gave her 180 and Ben gave her 100 she paid the rest from graduation money that she got from friends and family. Now...in the Fall we will both be going to the same college. Jenna and Austin are thinking of moving to Carrollton the town in which the college is located. The college is about 13 miles from where I currently live. So, I asked Christa if she wouldn't mind if I rode in to college with her, I would give her money for gas I get a millage allowance from rehab. She said that kids shouldn't go to college with their parents, and since I have Bowers my guide dog I stick out like a sore thumb!! I didn't want Jenna to have to come the 13 miles from where she will live to pick me up only to go back to the college, it semed foolish since Christa and I were going to the same place. I felt hurt, as though somehow Christa w4ere ashamed of me, instead of being proud her Mom was going back to school and would be a junior in the Fall, she doesn't want to be seen with me. I understand that kids don't want to be with their parents, but do you think I'm being to sensitive? I have decided that Ben and I will look for a h ouse closer to school. There is a transportation service that only would help me with transportation if I lived in Carrol County, so perhaps we can find a house there. Rhonda