Hi there! I'm BACK !
Wow, you all are so very sweet to be so worried about me! I can't tell you how much it has all meant to me! I only read back a few pages - my DBFF Gail is over for a visit and said that she had read all of the posts and that you were all looking for me - so ta da - here I am!
First of all, Lisa, sorry I didn't respond to the lovely message that you sent to Dustin on FB. He read it to me and I could hardly speak. Thank you so much for your concern. It was very nice of you to try to keep in touch through him, and I really appreciate it.
To all of my cruisin' buddies - THANK YOU ! I missed you too.
Let me say first off that all is well with DS in Afghanistan. (knock on wood) I hear from him once every two weeks or so by email. He has sent some pictures and he seems to be adjusting to his job there. He was really unhappy with the living arrangements, it was apparently very crowded in the barracks where he is - so my creative-thinking son decided that it was well within his ability to order himself a "portable housing unit" that seems to be a 8' by 20' trailer, that he can have all to himself! At last we spoke, he was waiting for the electricity to be hooked up. That's my boy!! But he seems well and safe, so that's all that matters. It has kept me in kind of a dark place where I haven't been out much or talked to too many people, so for that, I apologize to all of my friends!
Then there was summer camp, which just ended on Friday - THANK HEAVENS! It was another tough summer with another new camp director who works year-round in the GS office. She thought that she was all that and a bag of chips so she was very hard to work with - after all, me only having 19 years experience shouldn't know more than her - right?

And the teenage brats who caused all of the problems last year were - you guessed it - hired back again!! Who does these stupid things!! But after going toe-to-toe with this lady at least twice, we'll see if I even get interviewed next year!
And finally there is more news about my mom. And not good, I'm sorry to say. After experiencing a vision problem, we went to the eye doctor, who said there had been a clot that had broken in the back of her right eye that was causing all of her problems, but her heart rate was really high and she sent her for tests. After an EKG, an ultrasound on the right carated (spelling ?) artery and and echo cardiogram, they sent her to a cardiologist. He then sent her for a heart cathorization which was all day in the hospital, but she did really well through that. But the results were a little more dramatic that we all were ready for. She apparently has what they call critical aortic stenosous - her aorta value should be opening at about 3.4 cm ( I think cm) but hers is only opening .6 cm. That is putting a great deal of strain on her heart, but amazingly enough, that is still working fine. She shows no outward signs of all of this which is crazy. Then they said that 3 out of the 4 main arteries have 80 percent blockages. So it has to be full open heart surgery with a long recovery - and she doesn't think she wants any parts of that. So now I suppose it will be a wait and see game, making me more nuts! And I thought I was gray before all of this!
I want to say hi to everyone individually - but that will make this post about three pages long!! I promise I will be on here more often, and will try to conquer my FB page - still not sure how all that works.
Mary, I reeeeaaaally miss our Sunrise Club! Miss you guys and glad to here that you had a nice visit with Dianne and Michael and Flo and Danny. Wish I could see some of you!
Dave, thanks for the

! How's everything in Red Sox country?
Chris, I am so jealous that you guys will be on the Member Cruise soon! Sounds like you guys are going to have fun in November too! Have a Sammy for me in America!!
Flo, you will love it when it snows on Main Street!
Dianne, glad to hear that Michael is healing well!
Miss you all - gee it's Sunday - shouldn't it be time for a sail-away party!?!
