to answer your questions, I am......

1. Not dead
2. Not abducted by aliens
3. Not trapped under a large rock

I was in a rut.

I think the movie Office Space can best sum up the last few years of my life.....

Dom Portwood: Hello, Peter. What's happening? We need to talk about your TPS reports.

Peter Gibbons: Yeah. The coversheet. I know, I know. Uh, Bill talked to me about it.

Dom Portwood: Yeah. Uh, did you get that memo?

Peter Gibbons: Yeah. I got the memo. And I understand the policy. The problem is, I just forgot this one time. And I've already taken care of it so it's not even a problem anymore.

Dom Portwood: Yeah. It's just that we're putting new coversheets on all the TPS reports *before* they go out now. So if you could just remember to do that from now on, that'd be great. All right!

and that was the beginning of the end...............

Life happens. And when it does, it can suck every ounce of energy, of passion, of creativity right out of us. My blog and I, admittedly, went to bed for a few weeks with a case of the sniffles and boo-hoos and why-me's. Jason and a few dozen friends managed to drag me out of bed though, and I landed just fine on my feet. So thank you, Jason. Thank you, Angi. Thank you, Laura, Cheryl, Wendy, Krista, Michelle, Shari, Laurel, Terri, Crystle, Beth, Kate and all my other friends that have been so awesome and supportive.

The time "off" really put things in perspective. I had the opportunity to think about what I really wanted to do and where I wanted to go. I was blessed with several offers, and I'm really happy with the decision I made. I learned a little about life and loyalty too, about true friends. We all have lots of friends when things are great, but when life gets tough, we realise who our true friends are, and I have some awesome ones.

Besides, the depression that both me and my blog were feeling, and the business of the new job, unfortunately I've also been visiting Children's Hospital in Minneapolis quite a bit. I wish that wasn't the case. Five year old, Courtney has had some set backs with her Leukemia. Actually, she's doing great with the Leukemia, but the setbacks were caused by one of the treatments. She developed a rare, but very serious side effect of a liver disease called VOD . She's in the Pediatric ICU and has been on a respirator and sedated since early last Tuesday. Thanks to a new drug, the blood flood into her liver is now all positive, and a good deal of the access fluid has been drained from her stomach. Her vitals were looking better and they were planning to take her off the respirator yesterday.
We were all so excited that she'd be awake and we'd get to talk to her again. What was to be a happy day, ended up being terrifying. Once they finally removed the breathing tube, Courtney was only able to take a few breaths on her own. Her oxygen levels plummeted quickly and they struggled to get her air and then finally reintibated her. Her mother, Becca, was of course terrified. I'm not quite sure which was worse for me--seeing Courtney in such a condition, or seeing her mother--afraid she was about to lose her little girl. I ask that everyone think positive thoughts for Courtney, she needs all the healing energy we can give her.

So, I'll post again in a couple days, and I mean it this time, really, I do!