Update

Some quick updates for those friends who are trying to follow along, keep up with us, and (as my friend Caitlin would have said) stand in the gap for us...

We made it through the Christmas holiday.  It was surely bittersweet.  I doubt we reached anything approaching real "joyfulness," but we did have some gifts to share with one another.  We did have a lovely afternoon with His youngest son.  We did get to make the trip north and spend a nice evening with T's mom and niece and nephew -- a precious Christmas with Eleanor that none of us would have anticipated a year ago.

T has passed the 5 week mark post surgery and continues to amaze everyone with her progress.   Tomorrow will be her last visit to physical therapy.  She has her release to return to work after the first of the year.  She still hurts sometimes, but it is pretty well controlled with medications and she mostly feels good.  She still tires easily, but it recovering her strength day by day.

I got the most wonderful Christmas gift ever...  an original, framed, first one ever, finger-painting by my grandson.  The "original" painting now hangs prominently in  my kitchen where it brings a smile to my face each morning. 

Himself continues to meet with his therapist.  He seems to like and respect her, and those meetings do seem to help Him feel some better so that is good.

I have purchased two books by Dr. Sue Johnson about a "couple's therapy" process called Emotionally Focused Therapy.  We are beginning to read through these together, hoping (at least I am hoping) to find some tools and techniques that might help us reconnect and find our way back to some kind of love and happiness again.


The next court date is Thursday.  It is listed as "pre-trial" and the attorney says it will be his first opportunity to "have a conversation" with the prosecutor.  None of us really know what to expect.  T and I are hopeful that there may be some positive things that come out of this encounter with what passes for the "justice" system.  He is, on the other hand, convinced, that nothing good will happen.  We will simply have to wait and find out I guess.

One of my students lost his dad on the Monday before Christmas.  It was sudden and totally unexpected, and I cannot imagine the devastation for this little guy -- 12 years old is too young for such an enormous loss.  I attended the funeral last evening, along with my teaching partner and 16 of our students.  I was awfully proud of them for being there for their friend -- even in the middle of their Christmas break.

I'm hot on the trail of whatever it is that is causing my intensified and more frequent migraine headaches.  Perhaps in the new year, I'll find some answer to that question.  For now, I do have a CT scan that appears normal, so that is good news.

I've made changes here that allow us to keep the evil, nasty anonymous commenters away.  That feels positive.  This place is in the nature of a "diary" and those who insist that it is a forum for them to be hateful are simply not welcome.  So they have been taken care of.  I also cleaned up the blog roll which was in real need of pruning and updating.

So.  That is the news from here.  I wish a very happy new year to all our friends.  Thank you for being with us this far.

swan