We've all seen swimmer Micheal Phelps' mother and sisters cheering him on from the stands as he makes history at the Beijing Olympics. Conspicuously missing from this family picture is his father, Fred. Not only is Fred absent in China, he hasn't even spoken to his son since the games began.

"He's so busy, I'm sure not even his agent can get a hold of him," Fred said. "I'm very proud of him and all he's done. This is not about me, it's about him."
Michael's parents were high school sweethearts who divorced when he was just nine years old. "It was like a storybook [marriage], but sometimes chapters go in different directions," says his mother Debbie. "We were close, but we grew apart."

Clearly Fred Phelps grew apart not just from his wife, but from his son as well. When Fred showed up at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Michael admitted that up until that point, he hadn't been in contact with his father since he graduated high school. He also revealed that his father hadn't even reached out to him after he set his first world record in 2001. "There are reasons and I really don't want to get into that," Michael said.

Whatever those reasons were, they clearly were not resolved. After the 2004 Games, father and son became estranged once more. And while Fred Phelps watches from afar, Michael Phelps gives credit for his success where credit is due. "The person I love the most is sitting in the front row - my mom - for everything she's done," Michael told reporters in Beijing.

Loving someone doesn't mean you have to love the people they love. My father had five kids and his love for each and every one of them was unconditional and unlimited. I, on the other hand, can barely stand to talk to myself, let alone the other four. And so, I completely understand Chris Orbach's desire to have nothing to do with his late father's second wife.

And yet... there's the matter of the ten million dollars, of which Chris sees none until his stepmother, Elaine Cancilla-Orbach, dies. Chris sent his stepmother a letter claiming that she manipulated the elder Orbach into cutting his son out of his will. It's not about the money, though, claims Chris. "People think [the letter] was a money grab," he wrote on the First Wives World website. "For the trillionth time -- it wasn't. I do just fine as a voiceover artist."

Chris Orbach also chastised his father's donation of his eyes to the Eye Bank Association of America. Cancilla-Orbach, defends that decision, however. "Jerry always said he was so proud that, at age 69, he didn't need glasses," Cancilla-Orbach said. "He said, 'If I can give anything back, I want to give my eyes. I can't give my liver because I drank too much, and I can't give my lungs because I smoked too much. But I can give my eyes.' So, on his deathbed, when they asked if he was an organ donor, I said, 'Take his eyes.'"

I don't know... Maybe Chris Orbach has a point. After all, he is, I'm sure, making hundreds of dollars a month as a voice-over artist so he really doesn't need the money. And this isn't Jerry Orbach's first wife; it's his second wife who swooped in at the last moment, only having to spend two and a half decades with him to inherit his money. Really, if this is just about not having to visit Elaine Cancilla-Orbach on Mother's Day, drop it and don't. It's really that simple.

It's hard not to do. For some, it's inevitable: Playing favorites. Parents try not to do it, grandparents too. Still, the idea persists--siblings talk about it amongst themselves and make the decisions when the grandparents don't. But what about when the grandparents do?

I can think of several instances when it's been pretty obvious that the grandparents had a favorite child. It's also been pretty obvious when the grandchild was not the favorite. To be frank, in both instances it really stunk for the kids. Sometimes, perhaps, it was because the grandparents had access to or spent more time with a particular grandchild. Sometimes, it was the direct result of having a favorite child.

In any event, having favorites is one thing--making it obvious is quite another. And, it's never fair to let it be known if you have a preference of one child over another. Yet some grandparents still exercise that option (parents too). Good Morning America online is taking a poll of how parents handle the situation when the grandparents play favorites. What are your thoughts on the subject? How do you handle it when grandma and grandpa play favorites? Or, is it something we can even help doing?

Pic by itchys on flickr.

In the left corner, wearing a garden hat and gloves, we have 77-year-old Avis Blakeslee. In the right corner, we have a crazy, rabid fox. Ding ding.

That's not exactly how it went down in Avis Blakelee's Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania garden last week, but the result was the same. She was out in her yard, tending her petunias, when she was attacked by what she thought was a dog. After the animal bit her, she held its mouth shut and pinned it to the ground with one arm, while using her free arm to flag down a passing car. She got the attention of a motorist, whose cries alerted her teenage grandson next door to her predicament. He ran for help while his dad, Blakeslee's son, put what turned out to be a fox down for the count with a well-placed bullet.

Blakeslee is recovering after a four-day stay in the hospital where she underwent surgery to clean out seven wounds in her arm and one in her leg. The fox, who was determined to be rabid, has gone to that big boxing ring in the sky.

According to the retailing giant, Wal-Mart, moms have a dedicated following of helpers -- family members, teachers, neighbors and baby sitters -- to make sure that raising a family doesn't interfere too much with their ability to go shopping. This "momtourage," as its being called, might even include Dad, notes the New York Times.

Wal-Mart has signed a deal with a new unit of NBC Universal called Women@NBCU that offers access to the more female-oriented side of the business, including cable networks Bravo and Oxygen and television shows like "Lipstick Jungle." Lauren Zalaznick, president for the women and lifestyle entertainment networks at NBC Universal, sees moms as "identifiable consumer targets" for advertising. The agreement with Wal-Mart covers the last half of the year when moms are buying back-to-school and holiday items.

I'm not sure what we're doing wrong -- while we do get a lot of help from my wife's mother, I definitely wouldn't say Rachel has a "momtourage". I also have to say it gets a little tiring having society assume that we dads are nothing more than incompetent buffoons who sit around guzzling beer and, at best, trying not to get in Mom's way. Wal-Mart and NBC, I guess, think that women change every diaper and take the kids to school every day and we guys don't do anything. That would be all fine and dandy if we could actually get away with it, but it doesn't work that way outside of the marketing team's imagination.

Sure, you may be friends with your parents. You may also SAY to people that you are friends with your parents. But, really, when you think about who your mom and dad are (granted they are still with us), as people and not as your parents, do you think you'd still be friends with them?

I'm not sure how things were in previous generations, but it seems like lately people have less than ever in common with their parents. That doesn't necessarily make for an un-friendly situation, but it is food for thought. The things we care about may seem different of course, but we haven't lived as long as our parents (in most cases) and we haven't had the same experiences they've had--the kind that change the very core of our beings. Things like having children of our own put us more on the same page with our parents every day, whether we realize it or not.

And perhaps that's what it is--can you be friends with someone with whom you have too much in common? Or does friendship come down to more than things in common versus not? Many people have said to me, I don't have to like my family--they're FAMILY. I've also heard that while you love your family, you may not particularly like them (anyone got that funny uncle everyone's always talking about?). Others feel that they have a strong bond with their parents that outshines that of the biological bond.

What about you? Would you be friends with your parents if they weren't related to you?

Barack Obama is upset because the Republicans and the media have cast aspersions on his wife's character, questioning her patriotism and calling her his "baby mama". He told one network that "I've said publicly before, and I'll say it again - I think families are off limits." He's also upset that his opponent, John McCain, hasn't spoken out against dragging wives through the mud.

John McCain, however, countered saying that not only has he spoken out against the practice, it's Obama that has not taken a stand. McCain spokesman Joe Pounder, referring to calls for Cindy McCain to release her taxes and questions about her husband's campaign use of her company's private jet, said that "Obama's silence speaks volumes, and it's unfortunate that he would single out others for a standard he himself has failed to live up to."

If you ask me, it seems that personal attacks calling someone unpatriotic are not quite the same as asking for transparency in campaign financing, although I will admit I'm not sure why Mrs. McCain's taxes are relevant. Still, in general, I would say that wives and families should be off-limits during an election -- we're not voting for Michelle Obama or Cindy McCain, after all.

So what do you think? Are families fair game or should they be left alone? Are they relevant to a candidate's qualifications for elected office or are they indicative of the candidate's character?

Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly have had a rough time lately in Los Angeles. In November, their newborn twins almost died after accidentally being overdosed with the anti-coagulant drug Heparin and in May, Quaid testified before a House committee about his experience. Thankfully, twins Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace are both doing fine now and Quaid and company are anxious to put the nightmare behind them.

Like many of us who face near-tragedy, Dennis and Kimberly have decided that what matters most in life is family and friends and the couple are making some changes. Quaid says that he and the family are quitting Los Angeles and returning to his hometown of Houston, Texas. "The train is going down the tracks!" he says. "We have a lot of family there and we have a really nice plot of land," he says. "We have 30 or 40 friends and family members within two miles of us. Its kind of a no-brainer."

The children's near-death experience may be in the past now, but it will never be forgotten. To help ensure that what happened to them doesn't happen to someone else, Dennis and Kimberly have started a foundation to help minimize the risk of human error in hospitals. The first step, says Quaid, is making use of barcode technology. "With a bar code, [a nurse] can scan the medicine and scan the bracelet of the patient. Scan her own tag and if there's a mistake, it will come up."

What happened to those babies was an unimaginable nightmare. I don't blame the Dennis and Kimberly one bit for wanting a fresh start and I especially admire their efforts to try to make something good come out of something so bad.

Female boxer and contender for the Dancing with the Stars trophy Laila Ali plans to honor her father, Muhammad Ali, in a very special way. The 30-year old mom-to-be plans on naming her child after the boxing champion.

Ali recently revealed the child will be a boy. His name will be Curtis Jr., after Curtis Conway, the baby's father, with Mohammad as the middle name. Ali also confirmed she'd like to have the baby at home with no medication.

Ali is due in three months and contends the hardest part of pregnancy is giving up her hardcore workouts. Perhaps having that baby at home with no meds will be enough of a workout for her! Good luck to you, Laila!

Mona Ackerman, contributor to Huffington Post and "shrink" as she calls herself, has a few choice things to say about breastfeeding. Ms. Ackerman is also a grandmother. Recently another grandmother wrote to Mona in dismay over her daughter-in-law's "incessant breastfeeding" of her nine-month-old grandchild.

The new grandmother couldn't understand why this was necessary all the time. The grandmother also wondered if the "marathon" breastfeeding wasn't taking away from the daughter-in-law's other priorities such as the household duties.

I'm sorry, but is this woman for real? What century does she think this is? The grandmother admitted to being perplexed and at least had the courage to ask if she was in the outer corners for feeling these things. I also agree it was a good thing to be able to admit such hesitations. Still, what business of it is hers whether or not her grandchild is breastfed? She had her children, and made her choices at that time based on social norms, the wisdom of the day, and what her doctor told her to do. A woman's choice to breastfeed or not is her own business, not anyone else's.

It's no secret that George W. Bush has had a tough time of it lately. His approval rating are approaching record lows, due in part to the Iraq War and current economic hard times combined with rising prices of ........pretty much everything.

However, over the weekend, Bush was able step out of the role of Commander in Chief and try on something a bit happier: Father of the Bride.

Jenna Bush, daughter of George and Laura Bush was married in a very elegant and low-key affair on Saturday. Henry Hager had proposed to the first daughter at sunrise on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine and the two became husband and wife just before sunset on her family's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

"Our little girl Jenna married a really good guy, Henry Hager. The wedding was spectacular, all we could have hoped for," President Bush told reporters afterward. "The weather cooperated nicely and, just as the vows were exchanged, the sun set over our lake... We're mighty blessed."

Jenna is the 22nd child of a president to get married while her father was in office.

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Nearly everyone who has a mother with a working computer has received some unintentionally funny emails from her at one point or another. Whether it's an update on the health prognosis of someone don't know and have never met (your cousin's ex-husband's barber's neighbor who was recently diagnosed with cancer of the toe, for example) or the latest warnings on the dangers of toilet spiders, technology and moms can be a pretty funny mix.

Instead of just forwarding these e-mails to girlfriends to enjoy and/or commiserate over, Jessica Grose and Doree Shafrir launched Postcards from Yo Momma, a blog with the tagline: A repository of modern day maternal correspondence. The idea was so great and the letter so brilliant, they've even been offered a book contract. Love, Mom will be released in April 2009.

"We started it on a lark," says Grose. "We never thought people would get so excited." Some of my favorite entries:

There are many who believe that the marriage of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey was doomed the moment they let a camera crew into their home. During a time when most young couples are quietly and privately settling into their newly acquired domestic bliss, these two were starring in Newlyweds. The whole point of that show was to invade their privacy and it makes sense that the presence of cameras would create some strain on the relationship. In the end, the marriage failed and the couple sadly went their separate ways.

There is at least one person who doesn't see a connection between the failed marriage and the intrusion of the cameras: Jessica's dad, Joe Simpson. As Jessica's manager, Joe was the man responsible for making Newlyweds happen and sources say he's now seeing dollar signs when he looks at his younger daughter, Ashlee. Ashlee recently became engaged to Pete Wentz and rumor has it that she is with child. Kaching!

In my opinion, another reality show featuring a Simpson marriage sounds like a snooze-fest, but apparently Papa Joe thinks otherwise. "He knows that no one cared about Jessica before her reality show, and he's hoping a show for Ashlee will have the same effect," a source says.

By "same effect", I am sure he means popularity and ratings, not divorce. At any rate, a publicist for Ashlee and Pete says it isn't true and that the couple have no plans to star in a Newlyweds 2. But that same publicist says Ashlee isn't pregnant, so who knows.

A second-grader at the Royal Palm Exceptional School in Fort Myers, Florida has been charged with aggravated battery after a violent outburst in the classroom. It all started with a disagreement over crayons and ended with 8-year-old Deshawn Williams allegedly assaulting several classmates, throwing some chairs and punching his teacher in the face.

Deshawn admits that he lost his temper and went too far in throwing the chairs, but claims he only hit his teacher twice and not in the face. The police believe otherwise and say his teacher has the bruises on her face to prove it.

Apparently, this isn't new behavior for Deshawn. "He gets very upset and he loves to hit," said Deshawn's grandmother Dorothy Williams. She says he often has tantrums and gets physical, but never with adults.

I think it is painfully obvious that this child needs some professional help in dealing with his anger. Unfortunately, grandma thinks all he needs is a stronger teacher. "If he was overpowering her that much, I feel like she shouldn't be in that line of work," she says. "If she can't deal with him, put him in someone else's classroom. If it's a male, whatever, and let them restrain him."

Deshawn will be arraigned next month and a judge will decide when he can return to school.

Edna Parker has five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren. She has outlived both of her sons, and is one of 75 human beings in the world who have lived past the age of 110 years. Yesterday, she became the oldest living person in the world, celebrating her 115th birthday with a red rose and new white shoes.

Edna's extended family were at her side at her birthday party at her nursing home over the weekend, and Associated Press photos show fascinating photos: gnarled, age-pocked hands intertwined with the youth of her great-great-grandchild, a legacy she created. It must be an amazing thing, to sit in her shoes.

Medical experts say that longevity is in family genes, and the fact that Edna's two sisters lived to be 88 and 99 seem to support this. But doctors admit that they do not know exactly what allows some people to live to such ripe age, but note that it is a combination of genes and environment - as well as attitude.

Notably: the very old "seem to manage their stress better than the rest of us." I'm going to try to remember that: I would rather like to meet my son's grandchildren, too.

Happy Birthday, Edna -- may you see several more!