That's tough, sj.

My friend lost their vacation place on Sannibel Island that they'd been going to for 18 years over the xmas holidays. The whole thing is just wiped away and there's no way to revisit it.

So that tradition is just ended.

Stay high and dry, Buffistas.

I'm sorry about the changes, sj. It's hard.

That's rough, sj. It's hard to lose things like that.

I may have told this story before, but my parents and I used to vacation on Sanibel in November, starting when I was about eight, so 1975 or so. So it was really only four years, because they divorced in summer of '79. But that's right at that age when I was making lots of memories and learning so much. Some of the very few times I remember my folks just being happy together.

It's been heartbreaking to read about Captiva getting essentially cut in half by a storm a few years ago, and now this latest round has done so much damage to a place I really cherished as a kid.

The world changes, and sometimes those changes hurt a lot. Please be gentle with yourselves. (Being gentle with each other is much easier, sometimes.)

Change is stupid.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I took the day off work and got in a nice, long walk in the park before the rains start again, finished a library book, made chicken pot pie, and assembled more of the 608 piece Lego Orchid I bought myself for my birthday.

That sounds like a lovely day and happy belated birthday, shrift.

sj, ouch. It hurts to lose those places that were dear to us.

And especially when you didn't realize the last time was The Last Time!

Change is indeed stupid.

Change is stupid. Even good change is hard and stupid at times.

Sounds like a great birthday.

I hope everyone stays dry! It's raining a lot here and a local business (maybe more than one) has had some flooding , I don't know the details but it's been really rainy the last several weeks so I'm sure that's contributing to issues.

Part of me is finding it interesting that the GOP is in such disarray especially after hearing how the Democrats are the party that is fractured and a mess for years (I mean the DNC has it's issues but it's not unable to elect a Speaker bad) on the other hand I'm worried that this will some how push the GOP more to the right. Will the GOP be this fractured when it comes to trying to pass bills?

Will the GOP be this fractured when it comes to trying to pass bills?

I think they will be! I mean, if no one can whip the votes to become Speaker, they aren't going to be able to pass anything that anyone disagrees on at all.

Oh, sj, I'm sorry. That's a lot of good memories, and the promise of a respite and a haven for decades ahead, to suddenly lose.

~ma and comfort to your family, Sheryl. I can't imagine the emotional stress you've all been under, for years now.

I went back to work today, on a very reduced schedule and with very reduced responsibilities, which translated for today into sorting out how very much the folks who covered for me managed to NOT do while I was out, and how they managed to get 99% of what they *did* do wrong.

Mind, they all have strengths that I don't and if I had to cover for them--I literally couldn't. Absolutely couldn't. But the words-and-people-and-puzzles part of my brain is so confused. This is all names and patient histories and there's not even a little bit of math in any of it! How could they possibly have had any trouble with any of this? And yet, they have. All the trouble.

Anyhow, it's something useful to staff and families, and entirely outside my own brain, which is good and much needed, so maybe I should be glad for all the not-doing?