Yesterday I bid au revoir to my b.f.f. Erika who will begin a new life with family nearby and a promising job. SNIFF  -- and no, not on the part of her starting an exciting new life.

The good news is I am only an hour away by flight so I will have to make it a point to see my girl who, no doubt, will be a smashing success in SoCal.

In every issue, my favorite parenting magazine, Brain, Child, includes a quirky question such as this one: “We asked you which mother animal you most identify with -- or which you most envy. Bears and Seahorses were popular.”

The responses had me rolling. Here are my two favorites:

I have always been crazy jealous of emperor penguins. Sure, they have to raise their chicks in the bitter cold -- but Mom lays the egg and passes it to Dad. Then she gets to take off for the ocean, eat her fill, and come back when she feels like it. Dad has to stand perfectly still, starving and freezing his butt off until the egg hatches. Talk about co-parenting!

--Haly Lewis, Brush Prairie, WA

March of the Penguins, by the way, is a great documentary. A two-year-old Ari even sat through the movie in the theater for it. Okay, here’s another anecdote:

The animal mother that most inspires my envy is the black bear. The mother bear sleeps through the birth of her cubs and continues to snooze in her den as they nurse through the remainder of the winter. Wouldn’t you love to get to sleep through labor and delivery and wake in the spring well rested?

--Liz Greenberg, Huntington, VT

Amen sister!