There's no place like home...

Hi everyone:

My apologies for failing to provide an update yesterday. A few factors conspired to keep me from writing. First, I was enjoying Patty's first full day home after five nights in the hospital. You have no idea how nice it is to have her home. Second, I needed to run Neil to the Metra station, which brought to an end another enjoyable visit. Whenever Neil visits, we laugh at least 80% of the time--and that, as they say, is the best medicine. Third, I had to tackle a few errands, so I was out for much of the afternoon and early evening. Finally, we had an evening with Kathleen and Don, so that pretty much filled the balance of my day.

Although Patty is still weak and is experiencing a few nuisance side effects from her antibiotics, she is feeling much better than she did last week. In particular, her spirits seem to have been boosted greatly as a result of her escape from captivity. Certainly, we have had some sad and exasperated moments as well, but anything beats being stuck in the hospital.

Both Patty and Don ran out of steam at around 10:30 last night, so Kathleen and I wandered over to Kicker's for a drink. For some reason, I seem to be losing much of my comfort level in social situations, and also seem prone to causing misunderstandings. I think I'm sometimes distracted by one thought or another, and as a result forget to be sufficiently aware of the comfort of those around me. Or, perhaps, I've just become too sensitive, so that I'm more likely to perceive nothing at all as a slight. I yearn for a day when Patty is well enough again that we can socialize as a couple, because I feel so much more at ease when I can follow her lead in a conversation.

Yesterday, we started to load albums with photographs we had taken over the course of our relationship. We quickly discovered that we had enough pictures to fill several albums...and this is just from the period before we owned a digital camera. It's amazing how poignant such a process can be.

I'm really looking forward to the Thanksgiving weekend. Devin and Colin will visit, so our entire family will be together, an event that happens far too seldom for my liking. What's more, we're hoping to have the boys down for the Christmas holiday as well, so we'll go from famine to feast in a sense. Let's hope the holiday season brings a little magic to Patty; she deserves it.

Love,
Brian