Rumors of my untimely demise are (somewhat) exaggerated. Really. (I think.)

I’ve been receiving emails asking if I’m OK, if all is well, etc. Yes, I’m here, I’m alive, and as a dear friend used to say: “able to sit up and take nourishment.”

From the previous post, my readers know that last fall was a doozy. I will eventually finish my detailed posts, but for now, I’ll just give you a brief outline:

In August, I ended up in the hospital with an infection that I probably caught while swimming in the lake at camp. Within two weeks of my discharge, my oldest son vanished under really suspicious circumstances. We spent the next two weeks in the surreal world of wondering if he was dead or alive. He turned up alive later, but in trouble. That situation is ongoing.

About two weeks after we found him, our home was burglarized. We were still up at camp, and had put off moving back home for a week for unrelated reasons. That was the last week of October. At that time, I was taking finals in my current course, and preparing to begin my next course. My laptop died unexpectedly during that first week in the new course. Because of that, I was in a real rush to move back home where I could use one of the many desktop computers we had at home to continue my classes.

That was not to be, however. That very next week end, the first week of November, we were burglarized again. That time, they not only kicked in doors, and added to the mayhem caused by the first burglars (drawers emptied, etc.), they also took everything of value that we had left in the house - practically everything of use that we didn’t happen to have with us up at camp.

No more computers at home. I had to withdraw from school, since I no longer had a computer for attending classes.

Over the next month or so, many other unpleasant things happened, both in relation to the events I mentioned, and in unrelated addition to those events. Some of them are quite personal, and I’m not ready to be that “out there” about them, yet.

In mid November, my sweet son, Dougie, bought a laptop and a computer with the last few paychecks he received from a job he was leaving, and let his dad and I use them. I reapplied for the next session of school.

By late December, I discovered that my identity had been stolen during the burglaries. One more concern to add to the heap.

On January 7, school started again. I had to double up on the courses in order to not lose my school loans, and found that I’d chosen my courses very poorly. Both were amazingly intense writing courses, and during some of the weeks, I was spending 12 to 17 hour school days. Really, it was a bit of a nightmare that I wasn’t quite ready for. Those courses just got done last week, and now I’m taking one simple gen ed course which requires a great deal of reading, but I feel as if I’m on vacation, all the same.

And so, my friends, that is a very brief description of the blur of the last 7 months. There hasn’t been any space for doing anything that takes more than a few minutes at a time.

I want to thank all of my Facebook friends for the Scrabulous games which have given me brief “vacations” from the here and now … those few moments of word puzzle solving have helped to keep me sane (I think.)

Although I’m a person who shies away from “drama,” this last stretch of my life has had enough drama in it to last a small town of people for a lifetime. I promise that I will share as much of it as I can with you, however I find it hard to share things that are emotionally intense as they’re ongoing … it’s easier to do so retrospectively. Still, I do have a lot to share - just please be patient with me, let me keep working things out, and eventually I’ll feel more able to be open again.

Please forgive me for unanswered emails … they’re still in my inbox (yes, even those from before the Holidays,) and I will reply to them. Thanks for your patience.