So, as promised, this is the letter I�m actually going to send to Bryan. I figured this was better. There�s less mess and far less emotion.

Bryan,

Greetings. It has truly been quite a long time since last we wrote. To be honest, I didn�t actually expect you to respond. I was caught off guard when you did, and even more so, when you did it so quickly.

First, the basic catching up stuff:

Since I don�t remember when last I wrote, I�ll start with moving into the new house. In about October-ish of �01, we moved from that tiny, dinky little house into a �real� house. This one is far more private. We�re at the end of a cul-de-sac and back the air strip. (it�s not really an airport, though mom calls it such.)

The house is huge and absolutely beautiful. The upstairs is complete and perfect with new furniture, three bedrooms, large living room with gas fireplace, large kitchen with dining room, laundry room and pantry. There are two full bathrooms upstairs. Carpet color is mainly blue and the walls are white. The furniture in the living room, huge, overstuffed couch, two love seats, recliner and unique antler chair (I don�t remember if that was in the tiny house when you were out here or not� doesn�t really matter though).

Downstairs has two bedrooms, full bath, living room with dining room, kitchen (small-ish), storage area (under the stairs) and then my room. There used to be a two-car garage in the house, but one side was converted into a LONG room with a front office-type area and the back work-shop type area. The remaining half a garage was again cut in half and used for storage. (the quarter left over is the kitchen.) My room, the office-type area and work-shop type room, is a total of about 30 feet long by 9 feet wide. Yes, you read that correctly. I live in a double bowling ally. *grins*

Mom and Dad live upstairs and I live downstairs with Joey. He�s gotten big lately and has discovered that he is male. *chuckles* It�s rather interesting to watch him, but until he mellows out a little more, I�m not all that interested in introducing him to other people. (erm, if you don�t remember, Joey is a dog)

I�ve given up the idea of having a boyfriend/lover for the time being. Over the past 18 or so months, I�ve been concentrating on getting my life in order. I figure that I need to have my head on straight and at least pretend to clean. If I�m going to get married in the future (I will, just not this year, please) I�ll need to be able to clean once in a while. As you know, I�ve never been much for that cleaning thing. I�m more than willing to walk over it rather than pick it up. Strange, but guys generally don�t like that in a woman. *shakes her head* Yet another of the myriad mysteries of mankind.

I�ve been working for a friend of my Mother�s since October of �01. It�s good work, light accounting. But it�s extremely part time. Like, about 20 hours a month or so. That, in my opinion, is part time. *chuckles* Basically, I balance the books and write out the bills. I also get to write out the checks which is pretty damned cool. Where else could I go to work where I get to write my own paycheck? Now, if only I could sign them. *grins*

I have my license back, which is really cool. Found out that the court simply wrote off the old ticket as a bad-debt-write-off since it was more than ten years old. They sent a letter to the DMV and I went in, paid the 45 bucks and got my license. The world had better watch out, cause I�m on the road again. *grins* I�m currently looking for a car, but my budget is about 100 bucks. So, I�m still looking. *grins*

Back in November of �02, Dad spent a week in the hospital. He�d had a heart attack and the myriad tests that go along with that. At first he was slated for Bypass surgery, but after some extensive and extremely invasive tests, the docs discovered that the front part of Dad�s heart was necrotic (dead) tissue and that doing a bypass to dead tissue was really kind of useless. So, we prayed over him rather extensively. After another day and a half, the docs examined the test results again (same results) and discovered that Dad�s heart was NOT necrotic after all. Thus he became a candidate for bypass surgery once more.

Well, with four arteries being between 65 and 90 percent blocked, the diabetes and the risks of kidney failure due to the renal arteries also having severe blockage, the docs said it was a very risky procedure. Then they started talking about all the limitations Dad would have after the surgery. He wouldn�t be able to use his arms at all for at least six weeks. He would have to spend those six weeks (at least) in a convalescent hospital. They would be cutting open his chest, spreading it apart and manipulating, cutting and stitching his innards.

Dad was still contemplating the surgery when they moved a man who had just been through bypass surgery into Dad�s room. (the first time he�d had a room mate in a week.) This man was moaning in pain. He was sore. He was barely breathing. He was just not a happy camper. So, Dad looked at that, watched him for a while and then asked the doc what the bypass surgery would do for his Atrial Fibrillation (the reason he ended up in the hospital in the first place).

The doc said that the bypass wouldn�t do anything for that condition and they would control the atrial fibrillation with medication. Dad knew then that he was not going to have the surgery. No way was he going to go through that kind of trouble, difficulty, pain and expense in order to NOT FIX the problem.

Well, he�s been home here since then. It took him quite a while to get well enough to even walk from the bedroom into the living room, but now he�s up, walking around and cheerful (well, as cheerful as he gets when he�s not in his manic phase). He walks a little slower than he used to, and he limits his activities a little, but he�s healthy. He�s getting stronger every day and we continue to pray for him.

In fact, we credit Dad�s life now to God. We all know that Dad was miraculously healed. WE know that when the docs performed the test on dad which revealed his heart as being necrotic, that the results were accurate. We also know that because of the Grace of God, Dad has life in his heart once again.

I think that�s cool.

Long about January, the middle of, Gram was starting to hit the last phases of dying. She had been depressed for about a year. She had lost weight, a lot of weight. I know that you never met Gram, but When she was in the swing of things, she was about 160 lbs or so at 5�9�.