It has been eight months since I wrote something for this blog.  In some ways, it feels like eight days – in others, more like eight years. 

I pretty much went off the grid about the first of November after I got my bloodwork results with the unexpected shock of an elevated PSA (didn’t tell anyone except my brother about that until the first of February). 

I remember thinking in mid-December that I would start up again in January with our family Christmas pictures.  That was right after we put Mom in an Alzheimer’s facility.  But life was hectic.

Then Dad went missing in early February.  And I remember thinking that I thought life was hectic in January.

After Blake and I got back from Arizona, I saved a bunch of pictures and decided that I would write one long “catch-up” blog post during the convalescence after my prostate procedure the first week of April.  But it was uncomfortable to sit at my desk.

I had a million excuses – but mostly I think I wasn’t ready to write about any of it, other than a couple of quick paragraphs that I added to e-mails that went out to our list.  Didn’t have any trouble talking about it – have had lots of nice folks checking up on me at shows.

But I kept taking pictures at shows and while I was traveling, so I have a phone full of little stories that I intended to share.

Now I am at a crossroads, and I have two choices – start from scratch today and move forward without looking back – or start today and move forward, with jumps backward as time allows until the camera is emptied.

I figure you folks will tell me which you prefer – you always have, and I have always appreciated it.

Either way, I think this is the starting point . . .

The Preview Party costume theme at Stampaway USA in Cincinnati ten days ago was “Superheroes Assemble” — I decided to pay tribute to mine and pulled out the outfit I wore the first time we hiked the Grand Canyon ten years ago.