A funny thing happened on the way to the rest of my life...

I'll bet you all thought I was dead.

Didn't you?

C'mon, admit it. I promise my feelings won't be hurt.

Much. ;0)

There were times, to be sure, that I thought I might be a bit better off on the other side of the mirror. If nothing else so that it would just not hurt so goddamn much anymore. Then, my friends the chemicals would whisper to me, and I would get so tired and everything would fade to grey.

I hate drugs. Always have. I won't even take an aspirin if I can help it. What I had in the hospital and what I had at home, were certainly not aspirin. I lost weeks of time, honestly, in a stupor. I left most of you in mid-July, and here it is the first part of November. To this day I cannot function painlessly without the chemicals, but they are of the most benign and of the least dosage that I can tolerate.

Obviously, things did not go completely as planned with my surgery, and due to this I am getting used to some new physical limitations in my life.

Big deal. I'll manage.

I live.

That's enough.

I am not yet to the point where I can spend much time at the keyboard, and I suspect that it will still be quite a while before I can get to the point where I can turn up at my old haunts.

But I wanted you all to know I live, and that I appreciated all of the kind things that were sent to me in my gmail here. I will be checking it semi-regular, so if anyone needs to speak to me or wants to chat or compare the chemicals and their effects, I can be found there. ;0)

I wish the best to all of you reading, and I hope to return here to post more as soon as I am able.

Bear-