I'm watching an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition where both parents are deaf, and the younger son is autistic and blind. I'm kind of amazed at all the communication things they worked out. The father and son communicate using the kind of system that deaf-blind people use, where one person signs while the other person feels his hands. Among the various things they put into this new house, they have an alarm system so that, every time the front door opens, lights flash all over the house and the parents' bed shakes, because the son has sometimes gotten up in the middle of the night and started wandering around outside.

I looked at the costume Steph linked to and my first reaction was "Vampire Ken"!

Whatever you all want to give her is fine by me, of course. I only suggested flowers because they meant so much to Drew and me as symbols of love and support when each of us was in the hospital, but if we want to raise more money and do something more substantial I'm all for it. I can't coordinate anything more than flowers with my current work load, though--can someone else collect money?

In much less serious news, I had a crappy night of sleep filled with nightmares and tossing and turning, and I'm freaking out at still having 25 comments to write before tomorrow. And Drew left again. And my kitty is still slowly dying of cancer, and although he acts like he's mostly fine, it's killing me. I invoke Allyson's FPC, of course, but sigh.

Pix, sorry if I implied that flowers were not a good idea or would not be welcomed. I do think flowers (or something else beautiful) would mean a lot, but it's hard for me not to zoom straight to the practical.

Also, {{{you}}}. Even without invoking the FPC, that's a lot to deal with.

Oh Anne, I wasn't offended. It is a good suggestion. And thanks--the waiting is hard. Every day I wonder if this will be the day I have to take him in. I'm grateful to have had this time to be with him and say goodbye, but the constant low-level of anxiety is really exhausting.

Am also down with something useful for Deena, and maybe something to brighten her day, too.

Slept a lot, as usual. I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed at the moment. I have laundry to do, work to do, budget stuff, and I'd like to go to a pumpkin carving party tonight. I haven't seen StW in a couple of weeks. I know he's super busy, but my insecurities are working overtime. I'm bracing myself for an eventual text, or maybe he'll just fade away. I don't know. I'm done asking if he wants to get together, it's on him now. Sucks. And I had a weird dream last night that involved evacuations and wedding planning and I wanted a labradorite tiara, but we had to keep the wedding planning secret from StW, because we'd been only been dating 3 months. Thanks, subconscious. I was trying not to go there.

Ooo, xposty. How about flowers nowish, and that will give us time to get money together and figure out what a good practical gift would be?

{{{{{Pix}}}}}

I just keep hopeful that each time I step on a plane he might still be there when I get home.

Smonster, I really like that idea. I will buy some upfront from all of us--whoever collects money ultimately can just transfer a bit to contribute to them once we are good to go. I just need an address.

{{smonster}} sorry you're feeling so overwhelmed, and lonely about StW. I'm thinking of you often, especially with Halloween coming up. I have NO PLANS for Halloween. This is a travesty! C&J are going to be in NY, and with you and T&G living out of state now, and many of the folks in The Compound otherwise occupied, and France kept me from thinking about it until just recently, I find myself at a loss. I know, I know, the mother of all first world problems, but you know how much I love Halloween. Just missing you.

{{Pix & ND}} It's so hard, losing a pet, and all the uncertainty that leads up to the end.