It's safe to come back now - I'm not talking about my trip.

Last night I was watching an episode of Parenthood. It's a pretty good show and does a fine job of keeping me entertained while I fold my endless heaps of laundry.

There was a conversation that happened between two characters on this particular episode, (which I believe aired two weeks ago), that made me want to stand up and yell, "Hallelujah! About time!"

And in fact, I did pause it and take a moment to marvel.

There was a woman, married to a man, mother of two children. One of her kids is a teenage girl and the other a young boy with Asperger's Syndrome. Mom had gone off for three days to help an old friend with a political campaign, and when she returned, she told her husband that her friend had offered her a permanent position on her staff. The husband could tell that his wife really wanted to take the job and so he began to verbally spout off all the ways they could make it work...

"We'll have someone come in a couple time a week to clean, we'll get groceries delivered and we'll have someone come in to make sure Max gets to all his therapies..." It was at that moment that you could see the mother's face fall and she started to think about what would be required of her family in order for her to take this opportunity.

And then she said that she wasn't going to take the job because her kids need her.

I almost died when I heard her say that.

"There will be other campaigns," she said, "but our kids are only young once."

This was on NETWORK TELEVISION!!! Can you believe it?? I was so pleased that I couldn't sleep last night.

It is so gratifying to see a representation of a mother who will make the unpopular decision to put her children before her desire for her life to be her own.

BRA-VO.

I understand that there are women in the world who have to work, but I do not sympathize with a woman who goes to work to prove that she is just as capable as a man or to gain power or respect while she neglects her most important role in life.

'Nuff said.