THE SLEEPER AWAKES

I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle. Last Fall, after I recuperated from shoulder surgery, I planned to get back into blogging on a regular basis.

“Hah,” said Fate.

My Dell laptop developed an ultimately fatal disease. The battery died, Ava ate the recharger, and then the elf-thingy in the computer refused to allow any strange power cords to power up the machine. (Unlike those computer geeky people who talk about those apocryphal bits ‘n bytes ‘n mother boards ‘n such, I actually know what makes computers work. It’s black magic and the elfs put the magic in exactly the wrong place at the right time!)

At any rate, I just couldn’t get motivated to get a new laptop. Like many depressed people, I get a little down during the holidays and the dark days of winter. When “Jingle Bells” or Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” inevitably takes you back to An Hoa on Christmas Eve, 1968, the slump gets a little lower.

But I am finally getting back in battery. I went HP this time, and I’m happy so far. It has survived one road trip to Tampa last week where I spoiled the grandkids while Molson (now a Lieutenant Colonel, USAF) made a short jaunt to the sand box.

Next Tuesday, my computer and I set off for Phoenix, via St. Louis, for a special time with my sister and brother in law. More about that in a week or so.

Many thanks to the folks who have expressed their concerns and offered their prayers. The road back is longer and steeper than I had imagined, but I’m on my way.