Check-in after a long absence

I loathe spam, spammers, and everything related to them. But "all things work together for good." A spam comment prompted me to open this blog for the first time in over a year. Since I'm here, I may as well check in.

I've been over to visit my friends the Nomads a few times. My recurring theme there is that the reason you see so many folks who relapsed in the forums and on the blogs is that they are still fighting the bug. We who are fortunate enough to have beat it are making up for lost time. It's a full time job.

The three years since I completed treatment have been busy. Elder Daughter is in her junior year at Northern Arizona University and got engaged on New Year's Eve. Wanna-Be-Son-In-Law had the talk with me at the shooting range. I had ready access to lots of weapons and we both survived, so I guess he'll do.

Son is in the Marine NROTC program at the University of Arizona. He has this notion that he wants to crawl through the mud with a knife in his teeth. So we go north to see one, south to see the other. It's a hassle.

Youngest is a sophomore an high school and gets lots of attention. She just finished her season as a cheerleader and wants to take a tumbling class. Cheerleaders get hurt. They throw them around over a wood floor or a track. Youngest weighs about 90 pounds, so she's the one they fling around. She also expects to start driving this year. I'd swear she was eight years old last time I checked. Henry David Thoreau: "A father's life is one of quiet dread."

The big event for me since completing treatment is gathering a collection of my dad's writing into a book. We lost him to colon cancer the year before I went on treatment. Two rough years, '05 and '06. He was a magazine editor who moved into political stuff. He was well-known in his field and what he wrote remains important today. The book was something he and I had talked about for years. I had been working on it off and on for a couple of years before he got sick. I didn't do much on it during the year he was sick because I was attending to other matters. I had just picked it back up when I found I needed to go on treatment. Frankly, I think it's a better product for the hiatus. Feedback has been good, although sales are slower than I'd like. It's getting some good reviews now and I think it will pick up.

If you've been touched by HCV, best of luck and blessings. You have my prayers. If you have questions for me, post a comment here or PM me (I'm cwk) in the Nomads forum.

Come to think of it, Doc wanted to see me this month. I think he's going to want another PCR. So, something else to talk about here.

All best,

Chris