~ma, Anne. We all get that way sometimes.

Wasn't able to reply earlier, Anne, but wanted you to know that I care if you leave your house again because I want you to have a happy and fulfilled life. I hope this down period passes quickly and you can see yourself as the awesome person you are. Take care of yourself.

The best part is that all my faxes come in as scanned .pdfs. I am constantly amazed at places that still use actual fax machines.

I have a printer that sends faxes, which I sometimes do, though I often email scanned PDFs. But I have a fax number that goes to my email, for receiving faxes.

Incredibly moving and interesting view into their world.

It really is- glad it was a good read for you!

I'm skipping. Mom tried to do the MRI this morning, but got claustrophobic out of the blue (she never knew she was). I understand her and it, but I really want to know that the thing that's causing her the SSHL and the mild pain in the eye socket isn't cancer.

These are really hectic days for me now, way more than usual. The deadline to my last BA seminar is on Sunday, and I need every last second I can get to work on it. With the news from my mom this morning, it was just what I needed to cave in, which is a luxury I can't afford at this moment.

She'll meet with the doctor and they'll discuss solutions, but I'm on my (emotional) edge at the moment. I just need that whatever is planned from now until Sunday will work. Whatever comes later, I'll deal. I don't need hugs or anything, I just need things to work, without emergencies or delays of any kind.

Yay, sj's cousin!

Yay for your cousin, sj!

Shir, I hope everything works out as stress-free as possible.

Medical~ma for your mum, Shir. And smooth-sailing~ma through Sunday for you.

Smooth sailing, Shir. I know that feeling (who doesn't, right?), and I wish for you that everything holds together and goes as needed to keep you on our side of the edge!

Congrats to your cousin, sj!

Anne -- I am keeping you in my thoughts. It can be so hard, but even if you can't see it yourself right now, we all can -- you're amazingly talented and kind and skilled.

Some adjacent drama in our house this holiday season--our housemate hasn't talked to his family in years, but last week he got a call telling him that his youngest brother tried to cross a freeway on foot in the middle of the night out in Sacramento and didn't make it. The location of the incident was 30 miles away from anywhere he usually goes, and the tox screens aren't turning up drugs or alcohol, so the reason for it all is still a mystery.

Our housemate is only now beginning to get any kind of financial stability in his life, so he's pulling together money to go out there and find a motel to stay in, because none of the resident family wants to see him, due to some decades-old grudge that seems to be the signature of those particular family members. Also, most of the rest of the family wants nothing to do with their father, due to the reasons why Mom is in one state and Dad is in another. Dad lives a couple of miles from our house and isn't a pleasant person, aside from being not quite competent in the life-management arena.

So our housemate is dealing with grief and family shenanigans, plus he was the one who got to go tell Dad that one of his sons was dead. Also, he learned last night that they've decided to go with cremation, due to the state of, as Mike put it, "what's left."

These kinds of things are hard enough to cope with without people indulging in soap operas.