Season 2

At some point a few years back, after listening to Ned rhapsodize about Breaking Bad and feeling that I was missing something, after Bryan Cranston won Emmy after Emmy, I decided that I needed to find out what the fuss was all about before the last (of 5) seasons started.

Season 5 was starting in a couple of weeks and I figured if I was going to do a marathon viewing, I couldn't get all four seasons watched, so I would just skip an early one and skipped season 2.  I needed to watch Season 1 to set the scene, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to skip the second season.  I was all caught up (except for season 2) when season 5 started and was a happy camper because Ned and I had something to talk about and I didn't feel left out of Facebook chats.  

It's always fun to have a TV show in common with Ned because we have great conversations about them (though I fear I gave up on Survivor a long time ago.  I stuck it out for several seasons, but I really OD'd on it).

I don't remember when it was that I admitted to Ned that I had actually skipped season 2.

YOU SKIPPED SEASON TWO?????? was his astonished question.  Apparently everything important happened in season two.  He's been telling me ever since 2013 that I need to come to his house and watch season 2 at some point (We had given him a boxed set for Christmas).  We kind of didn't talk about it again for awhile until Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad started and we were both watching it, but it had elements in it that also showed up later in season 2 and I needed to watch season 2 !!!!

Yeah, it's a little gross, but everything really does come to a head in season two (pun not intended).  Jesse meets Jane, for example.

which is a pivotal meeting in the show, and it is probably this relationship which determines, once and for all, if Walter White is a good guy or a bad guy.

Walter White is one of those memorable characters in TV series.  He's a lot like Tony Soprano (another series I binge-watched before the finale!).  Both of them do detestable things and are really bad, bad guys, for different reasons, and yet somehow you like them. 

Walter White maybe had more redeeming qualities than Tony Soprano....but....maybe not.

But I did it.  I watched Season 2.  I really don't remember the rest of the show except, of course, how it all ends.  But I can hold up my end in a discussion with Ned now and that was the whole point in finally watching Season 2.

And I have no desire to try crystal meth!

Wasted trip

It had been several months since my cousin had been up to do my mother's nails.  Niecie is a cosmetologist who owns two beauty salons in Marin County and has been keeping my mother's nails in good shape since long before she moved to Atria.  But she's also a very busy person and I think it had been about 6 months since she was last able to come up and my mother had been complaining about her nails for a very long time.

Niecie is such a special person.  Everybody in the family plays lip service to loving my mother, but in all the time she has been at Atria (4 years), nobody has so much as sent her a note.  Somehow telling me how much they love her on Facebook is not quite the same thing as getting in the car and actually coming to see her.  Of course, by now it doesn't matter because she wouldn't know who anybody was anyway, but every time someone tells me how special she is and how much they love her, it irritates me!

I almost made an appointment to have her nails done when I took her to the beauty parlor this week because her toenails were particularly bad (long and curling under), but before I could do that, Niecie called and said she was planning to come up.  Yippee.  The cavalry was on the way!

When I was last at Atria, they told me that a podiatrist would be coming to the memory unit to examine everyone's feet this week and asked if I wanted her to see the doctor.  I told them no, since I knew Niecie would be there.

Niecie called me from Atria this morning to let me know that she was there, but my mother was "too tired" to let her give her a pedicure, even though she has been complaining about how bad her feet are.  So I made arrangements with Atria to have her see the podiatrist, which will cost $40 (since it's not covered by Kaiser) just because she was too tired to sit in a chair and let Niecie work on her feet.

But she wouldn't understand my frustration.

Niecie and I met for lunch instead, since she had driven an hour and a half for nothing.  I had a couple of things she had given to my mother years ago that I needed to return and it was nice to just visit.  

Though I am from a large family and had 32 cousins, because of my father's disdain for my mother's family ("a bunch of hicks from the sticks"), I did not grow up knowing most of them.  The only ones I grew up with were Peach and her sister and Kathy and her two siblings.  That was because somehow their fathers were "acceptable" to my father.  

Of all the other cousins, I knew Niecie's mother (who really is my cousin; she has 3 daughters -- not sure what exactly that makes Niecie; just easier to call her my cousin) better than most but the rest of them are pretty much strangers to me.  The various family reunions we have had over the years have not helped that because they all knew each other and I didn't know them, and we know how gregarious I am in a crowd of strangers.  It was fine when some of my mother's siblings and their spouses were around, but once they died, the idea of a reunion held no appeal to me.

Niecie is perhaps the most ardent about family connections and I remember a few years back when she decided that what we all needed to do was go to this camp she knew of where we would have a few beds in a cabin, mostly sleep in the ground, there would be zero internet connection or media of any kind and we could just all sit around and enjoy each other.  It sounded like my idea of dying and going to hell, and fortunately there didn't seem to be anyone else interested in doing it so I didn't have to come up with a creative excuse for not going.

They even tried getting us to a reunion a couple of years ago and assured me that they would take care of "everything" so that my mother would enjoy herself.  But by this time my mother didn't remember having a large family and was afraid of even going to meet her good friends for lunch and I knew that a family reunion of people who would be strangers to her would be very uncomfortable for her.

Sunday Stealing

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog, authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. You may have heard the expression, “honor among thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from, if possible. We also provide a link to the victim's questions in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from recently asked questions from a previously post.

This is from Around the House, which hasn't posted since 2014, so it's obviously pretty old. It asks us to look around the house and then answer a few questions.

Bedroom: what’s your sleep schedule?
Bwahaha.  What sleep schedule?  Actually, I guess I do have some sort of weird schedule.  The dogs and I usually go into the living room to sleep around midnight and then I wake up some time between 3 and 4 (they don't), when I move to the recliner and sleep for a couple more hours.  If I'm lucky I sleep until 6:30 or 7.  Today I actually slept until 8:30.  I didn't even hear Walt making coffee.

Kitchen: favorite comfort food?
Carbs.  Bread. Tortillas, crackers and junk food, which I rarely buy.  Also peanut butter.

Washroom: showers or baths? bubbles? bath bombs?
Shower.  Ever since I worked for a gynecologist and found out the kinds of genital problems things like bubble bath stuff can cause, I have no desire to lounge around in a bubble bath (though it always looks so nice!).

Closet: sum up your style in a few words.
Comfort, boring.  Black pants + t-shirts

Parlor: favorite party or board game?
I sorely miss Cousins Days, when we spent 2-3 days playing non-stop "65," a card game, or canasta.  I loved playing cards with my 2 cousins (now both dead) and my mother (now no longer able to play even the most simple card game).

Living room: what do you like to do with your family?
With everybody scattered around the country, we rarely get together en masse, but when we are together my very favorite thing to do is listen to the kids talking and laughing together.  Nothing lifts my spirits more than that.

Dining room: favorite special occasion food?
Fresh cracked crab with warm French bread, or a delicious leg of lamb with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach.

Garden: favorite tree? flower?
I love the graceful beauty of a weeping willow.  I wanted to plant one in our yard after David died, but we never did.  As for flower, I love roses that have a scent to them, which home grown do and florist shop roses do not.  I remember when I worked for Dr. G, who always brought roses in from his garden and I remember the violet ones had the strongest scent.

Attic: what’s one thing you have a sentimental attachment to and you will never throw away?
Well, we have no attic, so I can't look up there, but the one thing I have a sentimental attachment to and will never throw away is Delicate Pooh, a Pooh bear which has been thoroughly loved by each of our children, in turn, and has very little oomph left in his body these days.  The dog once ate his face off and Jeri repaired it as a Christmas gift for me.  He now lives in a giant mayonnaise jar in a place of honor in our living room.  I case of fire, I would grab Pooh before anything else.

Library: favorite book genre?
Crime drama, like those of Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen and others.

Office: if you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
If I were much younger and much more physically fit, I would love to volunteer at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya and help save orphaned elephants.

Guest room: have you been to a sleepover? if so, when was your first? do you like them?
Of course.  We used to have them all the time when I was in grammar and high school.  The last time I had a sleepover was our last Cousins day.

Foyer: do you like small gatherings, large parties, or one-on-one meetings?
Small gatherings with interesting people that I can sit back and listen to.  Thinking of two friends, both of whom are theater experts.  Listening to them talk together is one of my favoritest things.

Pantry: favorite meal to make?
Hmmm.... I don't know that I have a favorite meal to make.  Usually when we are having guests I try to find a dish I've never made before that sounds interesting.

Garage: favorite mode of transportation? favorite car?
I've only done it a couple of times but I love riding the train. For everyday transportation, though I do love our Honda.  I don't pay attention to car brands.  If it's comfortable and I can play my iPod audiobooks and it has air conditioning, I am happy.

Panic room: what was the most nerve-wracking experience you’ve had?
Sitting at a party in New York, which was given in our honor and receiving a phone call telling us that our youngest son had been in an auto accident, was in the hospital and not expected to live until we got home.  Sitting in the hotel later, talking to a disembodied stranger and telling her that yes of course, she could remove our son's organs and give them to someone else.

Powder room: do you wear makeup? if so, what one item can’t you live without? what’s your favorite look?
I haven't worn any makeup in years.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Don't Stop (1977)... because Country Dew recommended Fleetwood Mac 

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Since we're not supposed to stop thinking about tomorrow, let's talk about it: What are your plans for Sunday?

Actually, I have no plans for Sunday.  I will be visiting my mother on Saturday and on Monday, but I have Sunday off -- and it's predicted to be >100⁰ so I'm happy to have no plans!

2) Fleetwood Mac was formed 50 years ago in London. Fifty years is considered a "golden anniversary." Do you wear more silver or gold?

I actually wear no jewelry at all, since I lost the "grandma" necklace the girls gave me for my 70th birthday.  I have tiny pearl earrings that were my mother's, but that's about it.

3) This song is from Rumours, which has sold 40 million copies. Is it in your collection?

I don't know that I have been familiar with anything by Fleetwood Mac, so no, it's not in my collection!

4) It was written by keyboardist and vocalist Christine McVie. She was born Christine Perfect, a name that earned her a fair share of teasing when she was a school girl. Do you recall being teased in school? What about?

I was always teased about being fat and, since I started school a year early, all the other girls went through puberty a year before I did, so I was teased a lot about my lack of boobs.

5) Before Fleetwood Mac, she was in a band called Chicken Shack. If you were to order out for a chicken dinner, which restaurant would you turn to?

The only place I can think of where you order out for chicken is KFC.  It's not nearly as good as it was when the Colonel ran things, but once in awhile it's not bad.  The last time we had KFC, though it was way too salty.  (I wonder if kids today know what KFC stands for)

6) Before she could pay all her bills with her music, she supported herself as a window dresser for a London department store. Do you enjoy walking along, just window shopping? Or do you consider "looking with no intention to buy" a waste of time?

I almost never buy clothes in a store any more, but occasionally I do like walking along looking in windows.  I never got nearly enough time to do that on cruises because we were always in a hurry to get to our destination and nobody seemed to enjoy the journey as much as I did.

7) When she found herself making big money, one of the first things Christine bought was a pair of matching Mercedes for herself and then-husband, John McVie. If you were handed a check for $1 million, what's the first thing you would do with the money?

This question has been asked before and in all honesty, though there are a few things I would like to buy, the very first thing I would do is to send a monetary gift to each of the kids I sponsor or write to through Compassion, Int'l.  The second thing is to buy a ceiling light for our kitchen. 

8) The other girl in Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, founded the Soldier's Angel Foundation. She believes in the healing power of music, and so she's proud to provide wounded soldiers with iPods already loaded with music. When you listen to music from your phone, MP3 player or iPod, do you use ear buds or headphones?

Ear buds.  I don't know how/if that will change if I get hearing aids.  I might have to use some of that $1 million to buy a good pair of headphones.

9) Random question: Let's pretend your high school reunion is coming up. Which classmate are you more curious about: the one who was your first date, or the one who was too cool to give you the time of day?

Well, I went to an all-girls school, so none of that opposite sex stuff.  I did go to my 50th reunion and nobody that I knew well from school attended (our graduation class was only 60 people).  There are two girls I would like to see -- one is a woman named Marie Davilla (obviously she has a different name now), with whom I went through 12 years of school and who has disappeared.  Even the folks who collected addresses for the 50th anniversary were unable to find her.  The other is a girl to whom I loaned a bunch of money several years ago, who promised to pay it back within a year and who has not.  The only time I heard from her was when she called again and asked for another loan.  My friend Gilbert always said "never loan money unless you are willing to lose it" and I knew when I loaned it to her that I probably would not see it again, but it was a disappointment to find out how dishonest she had become.  On the other hand, it makes me sad that her circumstances forced her to contact someone she had not seen in decades and ask for help.

Howard Hupe

It was both a shock, and not a shock, to learn this morning that Howard Hupe, co-founder (with wife Germaine) of the Winters Community Theater had died.

Howard was not at the ticket table when we went to the last show, which was unusual.  Always the lifeblood of the theater he had been looking more and more frail whenever we went to a show. No longer able to direct, or perform, he was still able to participate by giving out tickets to the audience who came to see the show.

Howard was someone we kinda sorta knew for many years, since our early days in theater here in Davis, but I had no idea of his fantastic background until I interviewed him and wife Germaine for an article for The Davis Enterprise in 2008.  Here is an excerpt of that article:

Fortunately for the town of Winters, and the outlying communities, Howard Hupe, one of the founders of the Winters Community Theater, and a regular director there, decided against taking a 14 year old bride.

Hupe, a native of Pittsburgh, PA met Davis resident Germaine Walgenbach (whose father, Jake, the owner of Jake’s Plumbing since 1948 was a beloved town character) on a blind date. Howard was attending the Army Language School (now called the Defense Language Institute) in Monterey and Germaine was doing her first year of teaching in Pacific Grove They fell in love and became engaged. Hupe went off to Saudi Arabia, as the first American other than embassy personnel in that country.

He traveled around the country with an interpreter and, as Germaine recalls the story, happened to notice one day that the interpreter looked particularly happy. The interpreter replied that he had just returned from his second honeymoon.

Howard said "Oh, that's a lovely custom...we do that, too, in our country after several years, we take off with our wife" and the interpreter said "No--this is my new wife. She's 14 and my mother just arranged her and she's absolutely wonderful."

The interpreter then said that he would be very happy to have his mother arrange for a wife for Howard as well, but Howard explained that he had a fiancee back in the states.

"This guy said ‘do you have a picture of her?’ -- this 'old bat' of 22 -- me – so Howard hauled out a picture of me and he just shook his head and said, "tsk tsk...her father must have many sheep and goats!!"

Howard returned to the States, and married Germaine in Georgia, where he was sent to another special school. The two traveled extensively with the Army and lived for three years in Tehran, where Germain taught at the English language school, just before the fall of the Shah

Germaine recalls having to have armed guards traveling with them on school field trips and one particular occasion when the school bus was being bombarded with rocks. Everyone was lying on the floor to escape the bombardment and their son looked at his mother and said "Don’t ever tell me that Grandpa had to walk three miles to school when he was a kid."

In addition to giving the Hupes a unique world view, their Army experiences also gave them an introduction to theater. Germaine had been a drama major, but "Howard’s theatrical experiences had been limited to playing a tree in his fourth grade play."

When Howard retired, after 25 years in the military, they moved back to California, where Germaine’s roots were. Howard planned to go to graduate school to get a Masters Degree in counseling, and Germaine applied for a teaching position in 17 different locations. She was hired to teach English at Winters High School. 

Though they lived in Davis, the couple became quite active in the social life of Winters. A few years after the Hupes’ participation in the 1976 Centennial Festival in Winters, there was a movement to start a theater group. 

They sought permission from the city of Winters to use the community center, currently under construction, for performances, and it was granted. In fact, the very first production was a benefit for Yolo Family Service Agency, and Howard explains that "the kitchen floor was still unpaved. Just dirt. And there were no stalls in the bathroom, so it was a unique experience."

"By the time we put on our 25^th play, which was something like 20 years ago, more than 600 people had participated," Germaine remembers. "Now we’ve done more than 100 productions and it must be up to about 1500, in terms of either acting or helping to build sets or being spear carriers or helping with costumes and this kind of thing, which is pretty amazing for a town that size."

"I adore Howard and Germaine," says Amy Vyvlecka. " I think what they’re doing is really wonderful. It gives people the opportunity to do really great plays. It gives people a chance to try out some of these roles. So many people have this opportunity to be part of this family they’ve created."

Gil Sebastian agrees. "Performing for Howard (who directed all of my 25 shows there) taught me some valuable life and work lessons, as well as theater etiquette. The confidence I gained, the ability to stay calm amid chaos, the ability to engage and hold an audience, the importance of humor, to respect others as you wish to be respected –– all have made me a better person, and I seriously owe all of that to Howard."

Howard’s decision to decline the opportunity of a 14 year old bride has had a tremendous impact on the town of Winters, and on all of Yolo County.

Howard made a huge impact on his community and he will be greatly missed.  

Debra LoGuercio DeAngelo, editor of the Winters Express adds "he truly helped shape the community. Besides theater, he served on the Chamber board for so many years and often was the powerhouse behind events when everyone else flaked. I know, because I was on the board with him.

Normalcy

We don't have a lot of "normalcy" around here ... or at least around Atria ... these days.  It's like going  through Alice's rabbit hole when you are let into the memory unit and you never know what to expect.  If I'm lucky, she's in a good mood, which means that we pretty much stare at each other for an hour while she asks me if she lives there and who this or that person is in a picture she indicates...and whether or not her mother is still alive.

If it's like last week, she is in another zone entirely.  You can't convince her that she is not in a situation where everybody hates her because she's done something terrible, but doesn't know what she has done.  (And if I'm very unlucky, I'm to blame for all of her problems.)

If I'm very lucky, she's in a giddy, chatty mood where everything tickles her fancy and we spend a lot of time laughing.

What rarely happens is a "normal" day.  Days when I take her out to lunch are more or less normal, except for the endless questioning about where she is.  But she used to go out to lunch with friends frequently and it's always pleasant to go out to lunch with her.  I wish I could afford to take her out to lunch more often, because I really enjoy it, and she does  too.

Haircut days are also normal day.  She used to have her hair done once a week for years and was good friends with her hairdresser. Hannah.  I last took her to see Hannah a couple of years ago when she needed a permanent.  It cost so much money, I didn't take her back again, since Lucy, the beautician at Atria, does a fine job for much less money.

I'd been putting off making an appointment for her.  She's several weeks past when it should have been done. Her hair has been so long and stringy, hanging in her eyes, often looking fly-away and giving her that "Wicked Witch of the West" look.  I'd only put off making an appointment because either I didn't have my calendar, or it was Lucy's day off and I couldn't reach her.  But today, she finally had an appointment.

She was in good spirits when I got to Atria.  She was napping, but got up right away.  When she opened her eyes, her first word were "Well...I have a sister."  When I told her that no, she had a daughter she came more to life and sat up.

I told her we were going to get her hair done and there was no argument.  She just immediately put on her shoes and was ready to go.

It's always such fun watching her interacting with Lucy.  It's one of those "normal" times.  Other then telling Lucy that people always ask where she gets her hair done (she's thinking of when Hannah used to do it), they chatter away just like the old days.

And in the end, though she never thought she needed a haircut to begin with, she's delighted with how she looks.

We returned to her apartment and she sat down, dazed, and asked if this is where she was going to live from now on.

Normalcy was nice, while it lasted.

The First one is the Hardest

I went for several years with a stable list of Compassion sponsored children.  I knew that Shallon (Uganda), the oldest of the group, would probably be the first to age out of the program, but I was not prepared for the abrupt departure when family financial problems forced her to leave the program and open her own hair styling business.  I had written to her for several years and we had developed what seemed like a close relationship.  She called me "mother" and at one point told me that after her own mother died, she never thought she would find another mother.

Compassion does an incredible job.  They take care of thousands of kids all over the world and they deal with persnickety sponsors like me.  They help pregnant women have healthy pregnancies and healthy births.  When a child has a serious health problem, they raised the money to get them the care they need (I read recently about a young boy with a problem that could not be treated in his native African country and so Compassion funded his travel to India, where the problem was able to be treated and he returned home cured.)

They translate thousands of letters to and from sponsored children.  And with the advent of an e-mail program and translation software, it has reduced the time between letters significantly (it used to take about four months from when I sent a letter before the child I was sending it to received it and answered it...sometimes it took six months.  Now it can all be done in less than two months.

And so I hate to be critical, but I think the one area where they don't do a good job is with children who leave the program.  Some age out, others leave the program for one reason or another--they move to a new area where there is no Compassion program or their parents, for one reason or another decide to pull them out of the program.

Compassion does inform the sponsor that their child has left the program, but often I first find out when I go to write a letter and discover that the child is no longer on my list of kids to whom I can write.  When it is a child that I don't financially sponsor, but merely write to, I am not notified at all.

I think Fred was the first child I took on to write to, not to sponsor.  He's in the Philippines and when I first took him he was little.  I don't remember how little, but little.  While Compassion staff generally are the translators for the letters kids write, Fred's mother spoke English and so she wrote the letters herself and I loved receiving her letters and felt a friendship developing. 

When Fred got old enough to write his own letters, Compassion staff took over doing the translation and the personal aspect I had come to look forward to ended.  The letters were once more the standard "I am fine, how are you, please pray for me" kind of letters.  Now that he is older, his letters are becoming more personal.  But when his financial sponsor decided not to continue his sponsorship, he just disappeared off of my list and I had no notification, despite the fact that I had asked Compassion (in anticipation that this might happen) to let me know if he lost his sponsor because I would take over his sponsorship.  Thank goodness I was able to contact them in time to take him on as a sponsored child, because they had not read that note from me and I would have just lost him after many years of a close relationship.

I have now lost 14 children who have left the program for various reasons.  With the one that I sponsor, I have the opportunity to write a final letter and, if I want, to send a financial gift as a goodbye.  The problem with this is that there is no way to know if the letter and money are ever received.  I sent Shallon $100 to help her start her business and Compassion was only able to tell me that if they could not find her to give her the money, it would go into the general operating fund.  (I have not sent a goodbye gift since)

None of the children who have left the program have sent their own final letter.  With many of them it's not a big deal.  But for Anjali, my very first sponsored child (who was in India--and the government kicked all organizations like Compassion out of the country after a long time of fruitless negotiation).  I sent her a final letter, but have no idea if it was ever received.  That one hurts.  I wrote to her for 7 years and she was one of my better letter writers.  As she moves into young adulthood, I worry about her and wonder about her, and will never know what becomes of her.

Today it was Eunice from Tanzania.  I had only been her sponsor for a couple of years, and as she is not a prolific letter writer, I think I only had two or three letters from her, so while her sudden departure was jarring, it didn't pull at the heart strings like some of the others have.  I chose Eunice after another sponsor child left and I chose her because her middle name was "Gilbert."  I mean, is that ready made for me or what?

All I know is that she has aged out of the program.  What her plans are, I haven't the foggiest idea.  I did send her a goodbye letter, but it will never be acknowledged.

So this leaves me with a "free space" where I can add another child.  (Or I could not add another child and save the money!)  When a child leaves the program, Compassion automatically sends the information on a new child to you, to either accept or reject.  

They usually send the little, cute ones.  And all of them are adorable, but I prefer to sponsor one of the older kids.  For two reasons.  The young ones won't be able to really write a letter for several years and so for several years you get form letters that all say the same.  But the other reason is that the young ones ARE taken so much more frequently and I know it is difficult finding a sponsor for an older child.

With that in mind, I started looking for older kids.

But it seemed that every time I turned on the computer this picture popped up.  His name is Estiben and he's 3 years old and lives in Guatemala.  The first time I saw his picture I realized how adorable he was and I knew that someone would choose him immediately.

But a week and a half later, nobody had chosen him and I was starting to feel sad for him.  I even posted a link to his picture on the Compassion Facebook page, and people who went to check him out, said that he had already been sponsored.

But when I checked his page, he was not sponsored.  Then I saw that he was born on January 29, the birthday of our late son Paul.  I supposed it was a sign that he was meant to be my next sponsored child.

I know I am in for five years of so of form letters and I can't include him in the letters I write to the other kids because he's younger than Lacie and wouldn't understand if I talked about the family and what we are doing.  So it will be a new experience  I've never had a kid this young before.

But you have to admit, he is pretty cute!

I am not getting "as" emotionally involved with the kids any more.  I still write and I still love them, but that piece of my heart that I gave to Shallon and Anjali--and Fred--stays inside because I have learned that it can all end in an instant with no warning, no explanation, and no good bye.

Kind of like Peggy...