Letters to Mom

Missing you like crazy, Mama! Its' always worse on birthdays, anniversaries and winter solstice.  Lynn sent a 'thinking of you' card for you, Mom.  I know she talks to you daily like I do.  Your friendship with Lynn, Susie and Marie was special, Ma, we know Lynn & Susie are still hurting too. We heard from Nick, he's a little stressed with boot camp but then, who isn't when they go through that.  He's already passed the physical part, which he was hoping to do right off the bat.  That reduces a lot of stress.  Now he just has to focus on the book stuff and learning to march and the other "need to know" stuff to serve in the military. I admit that we miss the kid. I've rearranged and cleaned up the back room.  We added a dresser that we cleaned up and painted (we were gifted that from neighbor Frank).  Put away Nick's clothes and items and rearranged some of the shelving and the room is very liveable now.  I'm working in there at

We lost Mouse yesterday morning, Mom.  You would have really liked the little fur ball.  She wasn't growing as fast as I thought she should and I don't think her lungs were up to speed and a runny nose ended up in URI within hours before we could get her to a vet.  It could be she was rejected by the mama cat, we don't know.  We do know that she was loved and knew it.  She knew our voices, touch, scents and wanted to snuggle with us for comfort. Hurts. The depression about the hands/arms is pretty high or low or however you want to look at it.  I'm working on rearranging and cleaning Nick's room/office/guest room so I can work back there with voice recognition and learn how to vocalize my thoughts and especially my fiction writing.  I was taught at a very early age not to verbalize, especially dealing with pain, anger, helplessness, etc. Now I'm in pain not only from the back but also the forearms and hands and I can't write.  My way of creatively work

I'm struggling with some major problems with my hands and arms and don't type much any longer.  Yes, a writer that can't type or write.  Not good.  I'm attempting to work with voice recognition software but its difficult in that I don't like to talk much. LOL - I'll figure it out yet.  I haven't heard from my doctor about x-rays I had taken last week yet.  We'll see if there's anything that can be done besides icy/hot cream and braces. We're doing okay on this end, actually.  Our youngest cousin left last Monday for Navy bootcamp.  He's entered into a six year contract and will be working with computers on really high levels.  He came to stay with us last September and weighed 270 lbs.  Within six months he was at 200 lbs and had trimmed down nicely.  He worked very hard on his swimming (taught by former Navy Seals) and exercise to build up his endurance.  He also worked hard at part time jobs that quickly became full time j