morsels

:: For Owen's birthday, he had a mini-party with his brothers and his best friend, also named Owen. The Owens were sitting side-by-side eating their sandwiches when friend Owen remarks to my Owen "Reading is so fun! In books without pictures, you get to make up your own pictures. In your head!" To which my Owen replied, "I know! It's awesome. You can make the picture however you want to. You can make the guys look like anything you want!" My heart burst. They naturally spent the day playing Star Wars legos, and we even played Pin the Tail on the Tauntaun, at Owen's request and thanks to John's mad drawing skillz. A great time was had by all.

:: All of Wilson's tests came back negative. So they think that he's still fighting the Lyme's. We've got some stronger antibiotics and some pain meds, so hopefully another month and we'll have a recovered pup. It's been super sad to watch him in pain, losing weight and energy for months now. We're really hopeful about this treatment. We love him so.

:: My dad spent all summer enduring radiation five days a week, following surgery last spring to remove his prostate [cancer]. Good news. Big news. PSA scores of ZERO. That's good. Very good. We are thankful and grateful and relieved. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers, thoughts, concerns and well-wishes.

:: I am in the final stretch of the crazy at work. It has been intense and challenging and hard and rewarding and interesting, and I have learned a lot. About climate change impacts in Wisconsin, of course. But also about family and balance and teamwork in marriage and support systems and the Village [that it takes to raise children]. And I am looking forward to going back to part-time hours once we move from writing/editing mode into layout, come October. Like I've mentioned before, I have so many ideas cooking in regards to my creative work and I really look forward to the time to put some of them into action.

:: Thank you all for reading. To those of you who I've never met but who pop by to read my stories anyway - thank you. I'm sorry I'm horrible at reciprocating. I spend very little time on the internet; and unfortunately, I can't keep up with the funny, thoughtful, beautiful blogs that so many of you write. I'll have to do another link up again so you can direct me to some of the gems I've been missing. To those of you I know in the flesh? Thank you for reading, too. I'm always surprised when I bump into a friend or acquaintance around town who mentions they read my blog. People I never would have guessed would read this are out there reading, and I am humbled by and grateful for the time you take out of your day to read the words I string together over here. I started this thing as a place to practice my craft and play around with words a bit, and the fact that people read [and dare I say enjoy?] what I spin out is a huge gift to me. So thanks, friends and penpals alike.