Dorothy, I think there are some areas where Amen's work is more sound. The advice about healthy foods and exercises and deep breathing are helpful. The brain scan, not as much. And frankly, he's judged by the company he keeps.

It sounds like a good trip to PA, and I hope the discussion with your son wasn't too troubling. I think something like that with my mother would have fallen on deaf ears for some of the issues we had when we were kids. The number one thing we hated and she ignored was her lifetime of heavy smoking. I suspect most reasonable parents wonder about the things their children harbor about their childhood, and I'm sure I'll hear about that one of these days. I know there are things I wish I'd done differently, or that I had done right at first and didn't have to learn from mistakes. I suspect that some of what we're learning now about ADHD might skew how we view past events.

Charmion, the reason I bought an SUV is because I couldn't afford a truck - even used pickups down here in Texas are expensive, they're so popular. So with three rows of seats and the third row always down I have a pretty good cargo area and when I'm moving a lot of stuff I lower the middle seats and sometimes push the front passenger seat forward and down. If I didn't feel like I had a lot of bulky stuff to move around fairly regularly having a smaller vehicle would be more practical. If I lived someplace that had really good and reliable transit I'd be tempted to not have a vehicle at all, to rent when needed and otherwise ride bus or train or cab. When I lived in New York City it was so easy to take trains instead of driving anywhere. I left my little pickup parked in Connecticut at my great aunt's house and if I needed it for a longer trip I took the train or bus up to her house.

Did I mention earlier that I have a daffodil blooming in the yard? And suddenly the weed grass is growing so I'll need to mow it this week while it's still warm out there. Spring comes quickly here, though we still might have some hard freezes, so to paraphrase Aesop, one daffodil does not spring make.

Good luck with your research, Sandra! Keep us posted on the progress.