Thank you so much for your kind reply, it meant a lot. Thankfully, God blessed me with the gift of self control. I think about every word out of my mouth, pray about it when necessary. I hold my tongue because I am not willing to lose my relationships with my family over these issues. They are family. On the other hand, I will not be verbally abused. If they will keep a civil tongue, I am willing to discuss anything. I always have facts to back up my opinions so they generally do not broach things to me anymore. With so many topics that we avoid, our relationships have become rather distant and shallow. It is not what I want, but in the face of so many outright broken relationships I feel it could be worse and am thankful for what I have. I do feel my cool head is a blessing. I am Carol, by the way Ryan.