Dear Readers,

I wanted to apologize for my long absence and give you a bit of insight as to why I haven't been around.

It all started with my computer breaking down. Turns out I had a fan not working properly so it wouldn't turn on. Once I finally got that fixed, I found out I was way behind in one of my courses that I'm already having to repeat so I had to catch up. But the big one that kept me away from my writing was an emergency in the family.

My boyfriend's mother has an illness called Lupus, which normally doesn't give her a lot of trouble unless she catches a cold. For those of you that don't know, Lupus attacks your immune system, making it very weak so that a simple cold can turn into a terrible flu. Recently, both my boyfriend and his son caught a nasty cold and unfortunately, so did she. At first, it didn't seem so bad, she just seemed to have the flu—she was having trouble sleeping and eating and lacking energy. But then she started getting horrible stomach pains and so, to make a long story short, she was admitted to the ICU with her kidneys trying to shut down, her liver in shock and her breathing compromised. Sadly, the hospital here in town cannot handle such critical patients—I live in a tiny town—so she was transferred to a hospital an hour away but the transfer in itself was a very scary ordeal given all her complications. She's slowly getting better-the big thing was her kidneys but they're starting to work finally- but she's been there going on 3 weeks.

Last I checked this morning, she's doing alright and should be coming home soon (but who knows how well that will go at this point-she's still having trouble speaking) but between babysitting my boyfriend's five year old, sitting in a waiting room with his family and trying to keep up with his house as well as my own (mainly spending some much needed time with my dog who is very attached to me) I haven't had the time to get to writing. I want to assure everyone that I do intend to finish (I've had some big plans rolling around in my head, just waiting to be put down on paper…er, screen?) so I just hope you can stick with me.

Thank you all for your patience. I'll try to get back as soon as possible!

Lots of love,

Cherrybomb