Sorry for the tough days askye & Connie.

Let's see if this works...

[link]

for askye.

[link] [link]

for sj

Calming manatee is very calming.

Calming manatee is very calming.

When I was buying a couple of symbolic adoptions (with stuffed animal) for a friend's kids for Xmas last year, I decided to get one for me and decided on a manatee for calming to be kept at my desk at work.

Connie, I'm sorry. I'm still afraid of the dark too fwiw. Take it as a sign you have a good imagination.

Askye, I'm sorry about the crying jag. I hope you have fun with Will.

Epic, I love that tshirt! I think I am the one person who finds the calming manitee to be kind of creepy.

I think I am the one person who finds the calming manitee to be kind of creepy.

The shot of the manatee floating above the little kid and saying "And what happens next?" looked like something out of a creepy anime.

Yay calming manatee. He is very calming.

I have a bear Will gave me that I sleep with occasionally when I need comfort. Sometimes the nigth and the sounds freak me out. Night can be creepy.

The shot of the manatee floating above the little kid and saying "And what happens next?" looked like something out of a creepy anime.

I like that one just because of the number of little kids I've known who loved to tell stories but were so bad at it. I always try to listen and be attentive, but I think that a breathless, "and then what happened?" would be so affirming for a little story teller.

eta: Here, sj, non-creepy comfort-er: [link]

Hi, I'm toni and I am a horrible person.

My last uncle just died this weekend. He was a nice man and was the one who introduced my parents to each other.

Thought both of our parents were not close to their families while we were growing up and moving around so much, but once we settled in Iowa, Uncle Jim made an effort to reconcile my mother with her brothers, of which he was the youngest.

He came to both their funerals and made an effort to stay in touch with us.

So, all my siblings are planning to go to his memorial service. It's near chicago on a Saturday, and they are planning to drive there and back, afterwards.

Here's why I am horrible. I am not going. I'm claiming work, but it's really because I know I wouldn't be able to handle the long car ride, the socializing, even though I really want to spend time with my sibs, and the length of the day.

I wouldn't be able to handle the stress of that long a day with no real downtime. I want to go, but I know I wouldn't be able to recover in time for work on Monday.

It's the Fibromyalgia, but I don't think my family would be sympathetic to that.

Not horrible, aware of your own limitations. You're allowed to not exhaust yourself. Funerals are for the living anyway. If you loved him in life and honor him in your own way, that's what matters. He loved you - he wouldn't want you to kill yourself.