....and we're back

Welcome back to the new and improved cheleblog. Well, nothing is really new (except the background and the tagline), and it's probably not improved. So it's just back.

I'll have to try the Book of Awesome another time. I wasn't feelin' it. And I'd gotten to the point where I missed writing something (for public consumption) every day, after being really burned out from writing every single morning. So let's just consider that a six month break from daily missives.

To quote Frank Costanza: I'M BACK, BABY!

We lived through what was the worst winter imaginable, both weather-wise and family-wise. They seemed to perfectly coincide. Dad had the stroke and we sank into the deep freeze. Days and days which turned into months of traipsing to hospitals and rehabs and nursing homes while bundled up like members of the arctic exploration team.

A memory that's burned forever into my brain - stopping by the rehab one evening to see Dad. As I parked the car, I glanced at the temp reading on the dashboard and it was -21°, and I'd had to park at the farthest point away from the door in the parking lot. It was dark, it was cold, and Dad could barely speak and understand what was going on. Ugh.

Contrast that with this past Wednesday, which was a glorious, sunny evening... and we picked Dad up from his assisted-living home and drove over to DQ for sundaes. We talked about cars, and work projects, and he's saying that he really wants to come home. And I believe that someday, maybe not soon, but *someday*.. that could happen.

All sorts of other stuff happened this winter/spring too... and now we'll have lots of time and bandwidth to discuss and dissect and generally just beat topics to death. And it'll be Awesome.