SA, that's really fascinating!

You must stop talking about desserts, people. My willpower is fading.

ND, congrats! That's awesome and you totally deserve it!

SA, that sounds so cool! My BFF's sister and BIL are both in the military, although they're stateside now, and they said some od the old-timer vets in the Middle East would talk about how different communication is now compared to the 70's and 80's.

juliebird, I am so sorry your boss is being a douche but but it still strikes of intellectual onanism with a voyeuristic streak is such a wonderful phrase. Nicely done! Hee.

My MIL is coming to town to spend her first Valentine's Day as a widow with her sister, both of who I like very much. It'll be nice to see her, and she's excited to see the renovations (esp. since she's paying for it: she's all "This money would be your inheirentance someday anyway, and you need it now, so here we are.") I lucked out in in-laws, both D's mom and his bio dad's family are really, really nice.

And I have having a Missouri-London Program mini-reunion this weekend! I spent a semester abroad in 1993, and my roommate is coming in from Chicago and about 4 or 5 other people will be here. And of course my BFF, who I met in London, lives in KC, so she'll be there, too!

We're supposed to go for dinner, dancing and karaoke Saturday night, but I think I'll be confined to light chair dancing unless a healing miracle occurs before then. I'm jazzed -- and I cannot BELIEVE it's been 22 years. Holy crapballs, Batman!

Straus ice cream is not half bad.

My willpower collapsed. I ate Cherry Garcia ice cream. I blame you dessert-talking people.

Hooray! For once my nefarious plans are not foiled!

The only thing close to desert like in my house is larabars so I had one of those.

Hooray! For once my nefarious plans are not foiled!

FINE. I hope you're happy!

No, really, I hope you're happy. That was one fine nefarious plan, and I enjoyed my ice cream!

I'm eating a diet "chocolate chip cookie bake" does that count? I mean, it's on my diet. But it is chocolate chip cookie-esque. Though it would be much improved by ice cream.

On the other hand, my dad was stationed in Scotland in '65 and '66, and I guess he and my mom relied on letters.

Now I feel ancient. When KCD was in the Navy in the late '80s, it was all letter writing when the ship were away. I numbered my letters because it was inevitable they would be delivered out of order or in clumps. If something was crazy urgent, we could send a Red Cross telegram.

Back in 1987, when the USS Stark was hit in the Persian Gulf, it had just relieved KCD's ship from that post. Not that any of us knew those specifics when it happened. We just knew that our ship was supposed to be in that general area at the time "a" ship was hit. The next day our ship, the USS California, made an unplanned port call in Spain so the guys could call home and say they were ok. Quick 24 hours in port with shifts to get off the ship, call, back on and tag someone else off, basically.

Wow, SA, that is a really interesting subject!

I am selfishly glad that I am not the only one with a "unique" conception story. I was taught to be ashamed, and I don't want to be, and I think the more of us who talk about it will make it less shameful. In doing a lot of genealogy, I discovered that not only was my mother's generation "unique" (her older sister married a pedophile, then divorced, older brother was divorced, younger brother divorced), and my grandparents disliked each other and slept in separate rooms, but on my grandfather's side there was divorce and abandonment back to at least the early 1800's, and his sisters also were married but estranged and dating men other than their husbands in the 1950s! I think things must have happened more than we think, and people just didn't talk about it.