Today, my oldest child begins first grade. I can't tell you how sad and happy this makes me. I'm sad because I realize my first baby boy is truly on his way to growing up. School has him now; I don't. I can't help but predict he will need me less and less as he takes on the world in his own independent way. This makes me happy too. I am eager to see how he fares on his own, how he develops, grows, and soars. And I must admit, I am pretty thrilled about having five mornings per week all to myself -- my youngest little boy begins school today too.

On Friday, we went to six-year-old Joey's elementary school for a meet-the-teacher event. Joey was right at home. He sat at his assigned desk, did a little drawing, and snuggled up in a pile of pillows in the reading corner. I felt right at home too, after reading a parent memo about public school physical education.

Fitness has become an everyday ritual for me. Along with eating right, it's my weapon for staying healthy and keeping cancer far away. I want this same ritual for my boys. It looks like Joey will get to embrace this way of life not only at home but while in the care of his teacher too.

United States Representative Charlie Norwood will soon depart Washington, for good. He will head straight home to Georgia where he will receive hospice care now that he has decided to decline all further treatment for lung cancer that has spread to his liver.

An air ambulance will fly Norwood, 65, home as early as Wednesday or Thursday. The congressman, who had been traveling the halls of Congress in an eclectic cart, with oxygen tank in tow has spent much of his time this session in the hospital.

Suffering from chronic lung disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Norwood received a lung transplant in 2004. Doctors then discovered a tumor on his non-transplanted lung and removed it in 2006. But the cancer had already spread to his liver. And while Norwood considered continued treatment, he ultimately determined, "No, you know what, it's time to go home."

Norwood, whose condition was acknowledged by President Bush in his last State of the Union speech, is said to have been as stubborn in his fight against cancer as he was in this fight for the legislation he thought was important for America.

He is known as the man behind the voice of Charlie on the television and film versions of Charlie's Angels and for his patriarch character Blake Carrington on the television show Dynasty. He is actor John Forsythe and at the age of 88, he is battling colon cancer.

Forsythe was diagnosed with the disease on September 28, received treatment this past week, and is now recovering in a Los Angeles hospital. He is in good spirits and hopes to return home this weekend -- to the ranch he shares with his wife Nicole Carter.

This is the second recent cancer diagnosis for the Charlie's Angels cast. Actress Farrah Fawcett revealed on October 6 that she too is battling cancer.