Last night I attended the 'Parenting with Dignity' seminar at the coliseum (I'm sorry the Toyota Center!).

I had seen the posters and briefly though "Hey if I had $8 and a babysitter I might want to go to that, just to see what he had to say." The posters had good art. That was a major deciding factor in that thought.

I wasn't really planning to go, didn't think I could really come up with $8 and a babysitter, PLUS the motivation to actually use them, all on the same night.

But then as fate would have it my sister wound up with a free ticket (doesn't she always?) and she had a test that night. So I had the ticket and managed to find a sitter (thanks Pam!). And I went.

Mac Bledsoe and his wife are the parents of Drew Bledsoe who is a quarterback for some big football team (don't quote me there). I have to admit I am a skeptic when it comes to anyone wanting to tell an audience how to parent. And being the parents of a NFL player really didn't help there case a lot.

But he was a nice enough guy, honest, and straightforward. He said a lot of stuff that I have to agree with like "kids aren't YOURS" and "They should be learning to make real life decisions from the start". I can totally get behind these ideas. In fact there wasn't anything that he said that left me enraged as 'parenting' experts so often do.

But this isn't a rave review. While I admit I agreed with what he had to say the problem is he really didn't say much. I'm not a real good judge of time but he probably talked for about an hour. He told lots of good stories about his own father, kid's he's taught and coached, his kids, even past seminar attendees but when all was said and done I left feeling like I had just watched an infomercial. Really all he gave us were little teasers followed buy "Now hurry out and buy my program! Only $79.95 for people in these local zip codes plus if you buy before the end of the month I will throw in my two books absolutely free!" It left me feeling a little empty and used and glad I didn't pay the $8 to get in.

As a sidenote, I ran into Kat there. Before it all started I noticed her sitting in the stands with her girls. I went over to talk to her a bit. I can't really explain the logic there. I know I 'should' hate her with every ounce of my being but I just don't at this point. So I went over and we talked for a bit till it looked like things were getting started. Then afterwards I found her again. She agreed it was one big infomercial. We ended up standing in the parking lot for well over an hour talking about everything. I don't know a lot of other single mom's so it was nice to have someone to talk to who not only knows where I'm coming from but has lots of helpful ideas and ... intimate knowledge of the situation.

I'm glad I ran into her. It made me glad I went. Funny sometimes how life unfolds.