Wesley, thanks. You make a lot of good points here. I really need to read that Alan Alda book -- if he's questioning the meaning of life, it must really be a universal experience -- because I would think that being married, having kids, having an incredibly successful career, running for President (oh, whoops, seems I'm still getting The West Wing confused with reality...), etc., would pretty much make a person feel they had found meaning -- I guess it might not be a matter of achievement at all.

I'm also glad to think about the number of people reading these posts as opposed to simply the number who have responded -- and now there have been a few more responses, and that's great -- having lurked on many websites/discussion groups myself, that all makes sense. And I'm not surprised to hear that LifeTwo has such a large readership -- it's one of the few and certainly very comprehensive websites dealing with middle age.

Thanks again for your response.

Catherine http://ourladyofperfection.blogspot.com