Allyson, Tom - I wish I could just hold you both until you felt better. I suspect if I really could,you both might feel much more uncomfortable than I would. But I am holding you guys in my heart, anyway.

I suspect that Steph is right, it will never go away. I just hope it can be put in the past ,where it belongs. And theat goes for all of you that ever suffered from that kindof cruelness.

I swear I have to write my folks a thank you note. Not perfect people, but I felt loved and liked by them.

tornado people - stay safe

Not windy out there anymore. I'm out in Verona though.

The office is kinda serene on the weekend.

Eeep. Tornadoes scary. I think hurricanes are easier to deal with because at least we know for days that they are coming. Be careful please.

I still don't really feel like I "deserve" TCG either.

Oh, I know I don't deserve Brendon. But apparently he thinks so and I'm not going to try and talk him out of it.

I'm trying to clean my house. It isn't going well. Bobby and I picked what we thought would be the easiest room and we have already been at it for 4-5 hours, and not done yet. My parents and a cousin are visiting on Tuesday and I would like for the place to be less than disgusting. Ugh. My house is way too big.

I believe I shall get down on my knees and thank all the well-meaning gods that while my mother was critiquing my body and my spiritual choices, she was also accidentally installing the stubborn self-centeredness/respect that made me look at all that stuff and say, "Good God, my mother is wrong. I'm right and she's wrong."

Of course, this has also resulted in my not hearing the voice of any blood relative in ten years and only trading pixels intermittently. I deeply envy the people whose blood family is, if not friends, then allies.

hurricanes are easier to deal

True, but I don't miss gearing up for them and always having them miss. I mean it was good that they did, but all the boarding up, and protecting trees and stuff. That was a lot of work that most of the time wasn't really needed.

Heck, I'll take earthquakes over either tornadoes or hurricanes. You don't know they're coming and they're over fast. And, except in rare instances, they're much less damaging/fatal (in the US, at least.)

It's hard to deal with the fact that I'm not what my dad wanted.(Even accepting that, socially, he's about an inch from autism and it's not really my fault he's a misogynist.) But I'm already a minority, you know? Everywhere I go that's not the doctor or the benefits office, it's like "Miss, are you sure you mean to be *here*?" I wish my family could be the one place that wasn't true.

Yeah, that storm cell over Wisconsin is HUGE. The one heading to the southside isn't nearly as big.

It's hard to deal with the fact that I'm not what my dad wanted.(Even accepting that, socially, he's about an inch from autism and it's not really my fault he's a misogynist.) But I'm already a minority, you know? Everywhere I go that's not the doctor or the benefits office, it's like "Miss, are you sure you mean to be *here*?" I wish my family could be the one place that wasn't true.

I am so sorry that your father is such an asshat to you. Also, strangers really need to learn to mind their own business.

I know I am extremely lucky that my mother never made me feel that my disability made me different from anyone in any way, but unfortunately I stopped believing her when I started school.

I love you guys so much. I'm really proud of us.

And yes, I belief Teppy is right. You can't live a life free of demons, any more than you can live a life free of fear. But you can learn to deal with it.