Sheri's mother Rhoda loved her daughter too much! (Does that sound impossible?)

One of hollywood producer's worst nightmares is the overprotective, doting yet bossy mother on the scene. They not only have to deal with possible child tantrums and their associated interruptions, but also mothers and THEIR emotional baggage, which includes PMS and its aftermath!

Sheri (unfortunately?) was beautiful, poised, talented, well funded for perfect teeth and posture, and a camera "natural". But all she wanted to do was to lead a normal life. Her grades were a stumbling block, but her mother figured her fame could open Ivy League doors for her. (She figured wrong.)

Sheri's father Richard was the quintessential pussy whipped dad - mom called all the shots in virtually everything.

You might ask yourself why a guy would live under those circumstances.

It is because he wasn't (by any stretch) a "10", although his successful pharmacy made him "$exy by the number$".

He was a cash machine, as far as the wife was concerned, and she turned her agenda to making her daughter succeed where she failed - as a beauty queen.

Mom and daughter constantly bickered over the competition known as the National Junior Miss Pageant. (It all begins with local and state competitions.)

Open to high school juniors, hence the name, Sheri's mom was determined that Sheri was going to be the next National Junior Miss and she would be there each second to make sure everyone associated HER with her daughter's victory.

When Sheri first heard about this latest contest, she finally exploded against her mom: "Mom, I don't want this shit anymore. I never did. Why can't you just let me live my own life?"

Now Rhoda laid out her plan: "Dianne Sawyer, Deborah Norville, Kathy Lee Gifford, Kim Basinger, Debra Messing..."

"Who are they?" came Sheri's cruel interruption (well, cruel to them).

Rhoda's reply, "These women all competed in the junior miss program on their way to celebrity status."

"Mom, I want to follow in daddy's footsteps and become a pharmacist," Sheri made the critical mistake of telling her mom.

After pausing to remove the stake from her heart, Rhoda took a deep breath, then told her daughter, "Baby, all you're going to be, if I don't guide you, is barefoot and pregnant before you're twenty one - you just don't have the grades for it.

"I'll get better grades, then dad will get me into a good school and four years later, I'm there." spoke Sheri in her inarticulate way.

"I've got some bad news for you dear," said her mother, who played her trump card almost apologetically, "You can no longer become a pharmacist on a bachelor of pharmacy degree, like you father did! Now, you must be a doctor of pharmacy!" (This actually went into effect 1/1/03.)

Now, although it's possible to take a six year accelerated course, it usually suggests that the student have high marks leading to an increased expectation that they will successfully complete those six years.

Sheri still played the high school dating scene as much as she could squeeze into her limited time away from her mother, but lately her mother's mere presence had forced many possible hot dates to scramble for other girls.

So, with (what's the female version of pussy whipped, Rosie?) a resigned and defeated attitude, Sheri began her march through the local qualifying pageants at the cost of becoming outcast from her peers in school.

She smiled and said all the right things without an "er" or "um" in her vocabulary AND, she knew where Utah was on the map!

But Sheri could think on her own and one day, after school, Sheri strode into her father's pharmacy and asked to speak privately with him.

That Richard had never been openly used by Sheri made him love her almost more than he loved his wife; but then Sheri asked him to supply her with an IUD!

The pharmacist in him took over immediately, "Baby, why not just use the patch?"

But then her dad awakened to his parental responsibility, "Sheri! I wish you would have discussed this with your mother. You really shouldn't become overly active yet. It would kill your mother."

Sheri's eyes wandered around the office while her dad's words hit home: "It would KILL your mother" (not literally). She realized that from the tenor of the conversation that her father would give her whatever she asked for because he had been so totally whipped, but now she sensed his price for doing so would be non-silence about it. What would be the point?

So she asked her dad to keep her secret, "Please don't tell mom then. If I decide to go 'all the way', I promise I'll talk about it first."