I hope flowers can soften the distance on Mother's Day

Mother's Day is coming, and I have never had this particular dilemma before. Not that Mother's Day is a dilemma in itself, but I've always been near my mom when this day arrived in the past.

Our tradition, as with many holidays, started with church in the morning. The pastor would hand out Mother's Day flower bouquets to the oldest mother in the room, then to the mother with the most children, then to the mother with the youngest child. My mom would never win any of those bouquets because, while she is anything but ordinary, she is neither very old nor very young, and she birthed only my brother and me. Next, we would go out to lunch at a restaurant of Mom's choosing (usually Red Lobster). It was here at the restaurant that my brother would finally show up, having slept through church, and run in out of breath and unwashed with last-minute grocery store Mother's Day flower bouquet in hand. It's not that she didn't know right away that he had picked those up on his way to meet us for lunch, but she never seemed to care, probably because she was just glad that he was there with her on her day.

This year, for the first time in my life, I'm in Los Angeles, Calif., and Mom is in Melbourne, Fla. I will not be there for church with the family or lunch at a cheesy seafood chain, and I won't get to see my sweaty brother offering wilted flowers. But that's OK, because I think I'll start a new tradition. It will go like this: Mom will call me at 11 a.m. her time (8 a.m. my time) to tell me that the most beautiful flowers just came to the house from 1-800 Flowers. She will tell me that she wishes I could be there. Then we'll get off the phone on our respective sides of the country. She will put water in the vase and set the flowers on the counter in the kitchen, and whenever she walks by those flowers she'll remember that her daughter is forever thankful for her no matter how far away she is.

YMT Vacations: Costco for travelers

I've been to Canada. That's it. There's my out-of-U.S. travelling experience in four measly words. And before you get any ideas about me jet-setting to Vancouver or Quebec, I should clarify that I walked to Canada from the New York side of Niagara Falls and spent only a few hours on just the other side of the river. That probably doesn't even count.

At 25, my roommate has been to London, Paris, Milan ... and the list of exotic locales goes on. I have been to Canada on a technicality. I have not travelled because I simply can't afford it, and while I like to think that I'll be better off when I'm older, I don't know if I'll ever be able to ... unless I can find a good deal with Your Man Tours.

Your Man Tours, a travel company specifically for mature adults, has been providing value-priced travel packages since 1967. Basically, the company buys tours and cruises in bulk so it can sell them to cash-strapped travelers at "wholesale" prices, kind of like Sam's Club or Costco does with tangible merchandise. I'm not old enough yet, but maybe when I reach my golden years I'll finally be able to see the places I've only heard about by finding a deal with Your Man Tours.

Necessity of new law a sad commentary on human indecency

After a failed surgery, Nixon lost her back leg.

Dillon has pins holding together an elbow that was shattered into fragments.

I don't need any reminders about what happens when an animal wanders into the street, because I see two examples of that occurrence every day when I go to work. And Nixon and Dillon are the lucky ones because someone brought them to a rescue that could get them the surgeries they needed to get back up again.

But what if no one took responsibility? Would they simply lie in the street until it was too late for them?

I want to believe that no human would leave another sentient being of any species crumpled helpless on the street, but I know that it must happen. If it didn't, California lawmakers wouldn't need to propose a measure to hold drivers responsible for any animals that cross paths with their cars.

A quote from state lawmaker Mike Eng in the Los Angeles Times pretty much sums up the common sense behind this proposition:

"Eng finds it troubling that California makes it a misdemeanor to flee an accident involving property loss -- a dented fender, a crushed mailbox, a crumpled planter box -- but there is no law against a hit and run involving a pet.

'You can wantonly hit an animal and leave and face no consequences,' Eng said. 'An inanimate object has more rights.'"

United American Insurance Company is still hiring

Here I am: 23, living in Los Angeles and completely on my own. For the first time in my life, I am outside of the lovely, safe umbrella that the Air Force provides for its dependents. I've been carrying on with my life, perfectly content to be a freelancer (a.k.a. professionaly unemployed). But this past week, I happened to think that it's been awhile since I went to the doctor for any sort of checkup. Then I started feeling kind of queasy and light-headed and I thought, "I can't be getting sick! I can't afford to be sick!"

That's when it hit me that I have no government insurance, no insurance benefits, no guarantees at all. That's a frightening realization, even if I am young and therefore invincible. So I've started dabbling in the waters of insurance policies, and one of the more promising companies I've seen is United American Insurance Company. Unfortunately for me, the company specializes in senior health plans. A senior I am not, but that's not where my discoveries ended.

An unimposing paragraph toward the bottom of the company's Web site states that it is always looking for more people to join its team. I have been following the trail, and I discovered that United American Insurance Company has job postings on careerbuilder.com. United American Insurance Company also has job opportunities posted on monster.com.

Not only is the company large and dependable, but it's actually hiring in this time of hiring freezes and abundant layoffs. And I'm willing to bet that a job with them would come with some sort of insurance benefits as well.

Girls will be girls

Valentine's Day is a mere 3 days away ... again. While I would love to be presented with a little something shiny to go on my left ring finger, I'm fully aware of my other half's financial situation, and I know not to entertain that hope for longer than 2.5 lovely, self-indulgent seconds. But here's the thing -- pay attention here, boys -- I love to get flowers. And not just me; all women love to get flowers. And they're a perfectly acceptable replacement for jewelry.

I know, I know. It's such a cliche that women everywhere are born with the innate desire to get flowers on every possible occasion. (Birthday, Valentine's Day, Wedding Day, Bad Hair Day, etc.) But things become cliche for a reason, right? Yeah, it's because women really do love flowers. Try as a modern woman might to deny it, we just can't help ourselves. I went through relationship after relationship without ever being on the receiving end of so much as an illegally plucked wildflower. I told myself that it was because my boyfriends were too creative for that, but I squealed like a girl when a box stamped with 1800flowers.com arrived at my apartment and I found a bouquet of purple lilies tucked inside.

So, guys, don't fight what has been proven throughout history. But, please, do try to be creative and find out what her favorite flower is. If she won't fess up, don't worry ... it's no accident that red roses are synonymous with Valentine's Day. And if she says she doesn't want flowers, ignore her -- just this once. I promise she won't hold it against you.