Hey, I'm up to four followers! I really hope they are patient people, considering how bad I've been about keeping up with this. The truth is, Facebook and the Delphi forums I go to are easy to post to quickly and briefly, so I end up doing that. People who want to friend me on Facebook can find me as Lee Ann Prewitt Doerflinger, not that I talk about these issues all the time but I do from time to time. Mostly though I end up friending organizations aiding veterans or memorial groups.

Part of the reason for the big gap from last time is the same as the reason for the previous big gap. My mother-in-law was back in the hospital earlier this month, this time with what was probably a minor heart attack, or maybe just congestive heart failure. All of the original problem, with the addition of shingles, was also still there. We understand where this is going, but it's hard. Today, we had a physical therapist come to the house--this was Linda's second visit--and I could hear Edith telling her about Thomas. Thomas wrote a little essay when he was in fourth grade, naming his grandmother as his hero, and Anna typed it up for her grandma so she could frame it and put it up on her wall. Edith talked about Thomas having died at 20, and about the pictures in her room . . . it was sweet. And sad.

One story I put on Facebook recently was about a trip to downtown Silver Spring for dinner. Richard and I were on our way out of Romano's one evening when a young man in a wheelchair, without legs, held the door open for me. On the back of his chair was a patch with "Purple Heart, Marine" on it (I think there was more on it but I just couldn't look any longer). This boy looked very good--his face had color, he was with friends, he was engaged and active--but I still cried after I got out the door.