:yadayada: Hi all - Back after taking off the summer off - my girl's last summer before high school! So we did a bunch of things and went a lot of places - and just did a lot of nothing - knew that once school started that things would go crazy. Which they did.

Had a house fire in our "downtown" area that caused only a few injuries but did displace one of our town's "special people" Whenever I think I have it bad I just remember that I improve everyday and these guys don't have that option (Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's and bipolar) So everybody watches out for them - one benefit of a small town

Unfortunately our guy with bipolar was burned out of his second floor apartment - Red Cros put him in a hotel for a night - did not go well. The pastor of the local Baptist church has taken him in and he is now staying in a room at the church - calmed down a lot and not pacing or shouting as much. The pastor's wife is feeding him too so he looks quite a bit healthier this week.

Usually I'm always fighting the small town thing, but after one of my daughter's friends passed away this past Monday night from an extreme asthma attack which induced a fatal seizure, this town has opened up for me. People who hadn't spoken to me since the stroke actually came and gave me a hug. Kids (a lot of my former girl scouts - of which Kendra was one) had no compunction about coming to me and crying on my shoulder and wanting to sit beside me (almost showing jealousy!). Showed me that I'm not as forgotten as I thought I was

With this bit of a rocky start though, it has actually brought the kids (freshman class) closer and put a lot of rivalries to the side of the road(for the moment anyway! LOL teenage drama ) I think that this'll be the turning point for them - the one that will bond them together through the next four years...she was a very loved girl, not popular but nice to everybody.

well, that's it for today - tired, not used to writing anymore. And the race is on!

Have a good holiday everybody!