I don't watch with any regularity these days, but I have been tuning in off and on. I loved Robert, Holly, and Noah's returns and will anticipate future episodes with them.

Carly and Robin, well...Robin's supposed to be the "sane" one right? So why does she get so incredibly irate? She hasn't grown up as much as she'd like to believe. And, Carly will always be Carly.

Once upon a time, my friend and I were talking about soap plots and she said something along the lines of "how could anyone have a half-brother or sister and, even though everyone else knows about it, they don't?" I laughed because that actually happened to me. Seriously. My mom had given up a child for adoption before she met my dad - knew about it and even offered to help her get her baby back. She declined. Years passed and suddenly this woman began corresponding with my mother. My mom explained to my sisters that this was a child she'd given up years ago. Somehow or another, she forgot to tell me. Imagine my surprise when I was looking through some photos and found one of a woman I didn't know but who looked vaguely like my older sister. I asked and sat there stunned as I heard the story. This was two years after my sisters had found out. I can sort of relate to the Alexis/Sam thing because of it.

Weird stuff doesn't just happen on soaps.

Hey Joan,

Thanks for commenting. To be honest, I thought they could have done a little more with Robert and Holly's return. Neither character was completely true to the way I remembered them. (Though, with Robert, they had him "admitting" to Luke he hasn't aged very well, tyring to explain being a bit slow on the uptake) Holly began back in the 80s as con-artist, but in the end she had developed an almost fierce loyalty to Robert and Luke. That seemed to easily betrayed.

Wow, the personal story you shared is quite interesting, and I can imagine very emotional. I guess I didn't quite make my point. It isn't so much about Sam not knowing she was adopted, or even being in close proximity to her birth mother, I know that does happen in reality. It was the fact that two people who already have such a volatile history share a past they don't even know about.

What you said - "weird stuff doesn't just happen on soaps" reminds me of a quote on writing "The difference between fiction and reality is fiction has to be believable." I wish I could remember the author who said it, but it often comes to mind when my own life goes crazy!

Well, the more I watch Sam whine about "why should I want to find a mother who obviously doesn't want anything to do with me", the more irritated I become. While Alexis is coming up against obstacles in her quest for information, she's getting way too much info to be convincing.

There is a reason records are sealed. They're sealed to the adoptee and to the birth parent for a reason. Mistakes are made and info does get out (that's how my half-sister found my mom), but the fact is, the records are almost always sealed with more permanance than soaps would have you believe.

Agree, agree!! And you just nailed my original "complaint" about the storyline - Sam's whining. I feel bad for Alexis, like I said, she shoulders a lot of guilt, more then she really should. I can understand where she's coming from.