Here's a nice thing! Last fall, my dad let me know that the Republic of Austria had opened up a program to restore citizenship to descendants of Austrians who were victims of the Nazis, and that he and a couple of his cousins had applied, and suggested that I might also want to. I just got word today that my citizenship has been approved!

My dad just died. It was sudden but also not sudden. "Sudden" is a weird looking weird when you type it out a few times.

Hey - y’all were, of course, the majority of the contributors to helping keep R from foreclosure. I have a spreadsheet with what everyone gave. I am talking to them very cautiously about a repayment plan for myself.

If you need/would like to be repaid, please let me know and how urgent a matter it is for you. The emergency was real and I have no regrets about doing it; it’s also important to my integrity to offer this because I vouched for them. You can ping me on fb or email me at my profile addy.

Thanks again for being who you are and trusting me.

Buffista mom Mary Jane Jensen, 96, passed away this morning at 6:15 am. Godspeed, mom.

Ethan was awarded Online Journalist of the Year at last night's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards!

My Dad is in the hospital (again!) with congestive heart failure and mystery anemia. Please send ~ma our way.

It's not a holiday without dad going to the ER, right? He's doing okay, but I brought him in this morning and he was admitted this afternoon for cardiac and neurological monitoring because he's been having bad bouts of vertigo and actually passed out today when we were touring an assisted living facility. On the positive side, I finally have him ready to admit he might need to move into assisted living in 2024. Finding something he can afford that isn't awful yet also allows him to bring his dog is the next hurdle. And getting him stabilized again. So he's in the hospital pending a bunch of tests so we can figure out what's going on with these dizziness and fainting issues, and we are figuring out how to proceed from here. Happy holidays! Sigh.

I had an appt with the neuro-oncologist today. She confirmed no evidence of cancer in my spine or brain, so I don't need to see her anymore! I'll still be working with the ortho-spine guy to try to deal with my back/tailbone issues - but those issues do not include cancer!!

The doctors think Dad has less than 72 hours remaining. I will post again when he is gone. Thank you, all, for your support.

My father, William Robert Taylor, "Bill" to all who knew him, passed away about an hour ago. I have been with him most of the past three weeks all day, every day, but he was such a private person that I am not surprised he waited until no one was in the room. I went to the beach near the hospital with Tina for 30 minutes to sit and remember and be near the ocean, and the nurse said he went just after we left. I came back and said goodbye and now am going to try to move forward. I am so glad his suffering is over but so filled with grief for the fact he will no longer be in my life. To honor him, pet a dog or help out someone without expecting anything in return. Or give someone a hard time. All of these would make him smile.