She's mine and I'm not sharing (except with Allie).

I tore this clip from a magazine and keep it in my desk drawer at work:

"Science recently proved what most young women know instinctively: calling Mom can be the best solution to a bad day. Researchers studying girls at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that a mother's voice is as comforting as a hug, lowering levels of stress-inducing cortisol and triggering the production of oxytocin, also known as the 'love hormone'."

This morning, here's how using that info went:

I speed-dial my mom at about 9 AM.

Mom: Hi sweetie, good morning!

Me (no preemptive greetings such as, Hi, how are you, good morning, how was your flight to California last night, etc.): Can you please tell me I'm going to be okay in Oregon??

I am NOT exaggerating any of the following.

Mom: Oh Em, you're going to be SO okay! You're going to do GREAT!

Me: (Sniff, sniff) 'K.

Mom: You're SO capable. You're going to make SO many friends. You're going to have the BEST time, you're just going to love it. This is a GREAT program. And you're going to do SO well, you're SO smart and ready for this. You're going to have so much fun, and you'll just LOVE Portland. And you're just so beautiful and wonderful and intelligent and fantastic, I just KNOW you'll do great. It's absolutely the right decision. Great decision.

Me: (Sniff, sniff) 'K.

Mom: And you LOVE psychology. You're just going to LOVE having a grad degree. And you're going to find GREAT community, absolutely, because you're SO good at making friends and everyone you meet is going to love you. Absolutely. It's going to be wonderful. I'm SO proud of you.

Me: (Sniff, sniff) 'K.

Mom: And if not, you can always move back to Wheaton!

Me: (Sniff, sniff) 'K.

Mom: OK, sweetie?

Me: (Sniff, sniff) Uh-huh.

Mom: Aww... Em, you're just so wonderful.

Seriously?

All mine.