Read the latest news on the wine industry in Florida and the entire US. The business of wine and wine gifts or even wine gift baskets amounts to a $26 billion dollar plus business in the United States. Americans are heading to the top of the list in wine consumption. The United States is expected to be the number one consumer of wine and wine gifts in the world by 2008.

You can read the full story on how the smaller wine retail outlets are being affected by this multi billion dollar industry.

This Mother’s Day I’d like to share an article that I wrote in 2000 on being a successful parent. I think that every Mother at one time or another wonders if she is making all the right choices for her children. I hope you enjoy the article and as you read, think about how important, often difficult and sometimes thankless the job of being a Mother really is. Sometimes the weight of responsibility can be overwhelming. This Mother’s Day, show your Mother how much you appreciate all she has done for you.

Raising children is not an easy thing. Much of your time is consumed taking care of their physical needs, doing their laundry, preparing their meals, and organizing the events of their day. The majority of your energy is consumed taking care of their emotional needs, listening to their stories, talking to them, settling their differences with each other or others, advising and teaching them. When they are very small, it’s wiping their noses, changing their diapers, feeding them, rocking them, playing with them, and trust me there is no time for anything else. Parenting is like being a manager, a secretary, and a servant at the same time only as a parent you know that your only compensation is that hopefully they will grow up to be decent, contributing members of our society, who make you proud! That is if you’ve done your job. Of course there is always the fear that if they don’t turn out exactly like you expected, it all falls back on you, much like a project at work that fails or a program you’ve written that doesn’t perform.

Taking a look at the last 15 1/2 years that I’ve been parenting my eldest child, it seems that most of the time just flew by. I wish that I had taken a step back every couple of years to see what wonderful transformations she had made, instead of just having it hit me one day when she was talking about getting her drivers license! It’s too bad that often as parents, our lives are so full with other things that we have no time to enjoy our most important job! And all too often, some of that job gets pushed aside until later. Only later, the kids are grown. Just what is a successful parent? Is it measured by the success of our children? Is it measured by how close we are as a family? Or is it simply making it through another day without pulling out your hair?

If we want to look back on our lives someday and remember the beautiful memories, we have to work hard today to create them. So plan that next vacation as a family, a trip to Disneyland, a road trip, or a week at the beach or even a walk in the park. And remember to take pictures. They are nice to look at now, but they are a vital part of your history tomorrow. For today, for me, being a successful parent, is remembering to stop and smell the roses. Time waits for no one.

Contributed by Wendy Layne

Mother's Day is May 14th! Don't forget to tell your Mother how much you love her this Mother's Day!

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