I got this email today...


Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey.. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,
Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much.. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.
I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her You will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.
Love,
Meredith

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.



Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith' in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies..' Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,
Abbey arrived safely in heaven.
Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.

Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by..

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.
I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much.
By the way, I'm easy to find, I am wherever there is love.

Love,
God

• I normally post my Random Randomness on my Karen's Chronicles page, but I decided to do it on my Opera blog this time. I've totally been neglecting my other page. I just don't get as much out of it as this one.

• My son went to the winter formal dance for his school tonight. He wore black slacks, a black shirt, black tie, and black shoes. (Johnny Cash style!) He looked SO incredibly handsome! I'm just so proud...and sad. After he and his date took off to head to the dance, I sat on the couch and cried. This might seem stupid to those of you who don't have kids...and maybe even some who do. I'm just so close to my son. We're inseparable. I guess seeing him all grown up and leaving with his girlfriend really hit me where it hurts. It was like a big bitch-slap in the face saying, "He's not your baby anymore! You are no longer the main woman in his life!" I'm teary eyed just thinking about it. I love my kids so much...to know that my son will be leaving home in about two years just kills me! I feel as though someone is severing my heart with a jagged piece of glass or something.

• On a happier note - as I was sitting on the couch bawling, my daughter who is 9 came over to me and gave me a big hug. She's always doing whatever she can to make everyone happy and content. I have NO idea where she gets that! She said, "Don't worry, Mom. I'll still be here for a long time!" I smiled, hugged her, and said, "Thank you so much, Sunny! I know you've still got a few years, but there's going to come a time when you'll be leaving me too, and it will kill me just as much as your brother leaving is killing me!" She looked at me with eyes that said, "Aww...I'm sorry." I didn't want it to be like a guilt trip, so I said, "But that's okay, because you'll always be my baby no matter what." I'm so lucky to have my kids. I love them both more than I can begin to express. I treasure each and every moment I have with them.

• Okay - I'll stop with the sappiness now. I just had to vent that. I feel better now.

• Lonnie took me to Starbucks a little while ago. I got my usual: Venti, Quad, Iced Mocha w/ soy milk. It was way too sweet...it made me really nauseated.

• We're going to go shopping tomorrow. I think we're going to Lloyd Center. I friggin' love that place! I wish someone would take me there, hand me about $10,000 and say, "Have fun!" Oh man...that would seriously make me happy! But then, who wouldn't it make happy?! Hehe

• Lonnie said that he already got my Christmas present. I was kinda pissy when he told me. Like I told him, "You know I'm a peeker! Why did you tell me if you aren't going to give it to me 'til the 25th?!" Please don't get me wrong - I really appreciate him getting me something. He normally doesn't. So yeah - that part made me go, "Awww "...but then I thought about it and was like, "Goddamn it. Now I have to sneak around trying to find it!" But then the thought hit me, "Wait a minute here. He hasn't left the house to go anywhere without me. It has to be something online!" So I asked him if it was. He said, "I'm not going to tell you." Psssht... We all know that means, "Yes...yes, it is!" So now I'm waiting until he does leave the house so I can snoop around his computer! I am determined to figure it out before the 25th. I see this as a challenge!

• I have zero money of my own. Yeah - zero. That means that I will be like the cheap-ass who never gets anybody anything for Christmas. It's really not fair. I don't want to have to ask for money. "Uh yeah, can you please give me money so I can buy you something?" Not exactly tactful, ya' know? I'll just make him something instead, I guess. I mean, what else can I do? And for you pervs like LC & Dennis, don't worry. He'll get plenty of XXX lovin'. That's not exactly a department that's lacking.

• I still need to bake more cookies. I have all the stuff for it, I just need to do it. Maybe tomorrow if I have enough energy after shopping. If not, Monday. I gotta make cookies for all the people I missed the first time around. I've made some new friends since then, too, so I have to include them! Siran & his twin sister, Siray are on the list, Jose, Galadriel AKA Kimbers...there are a few others, too. I feel all shitty for forgetting some people the first time around, so I have to make up for it. At this rate, I will be making one batch of cookies every week for the rest of my life! Oh well, that's okay. It's more than worth it if it means having such awesome friends!

• I just asked Lonnie if he got me a Chihuahua. He said,"Um, no. I didn't get you a Chihuahua." Damn! What a pisser!

• I'm going to lay off the Vicodin for a few days. I think I'm growing a tolerance to them. It's taking more of 'em to help, so I'm just going to suffer through the pain for a few days so I can get back to taking less. I don't want to damage my kidneys or anything.

• My feet are so cold!

• I was supposed to call my Dad today, but spaced it out. Ooops!

• I'm going to go upload the pictures of my son & his girlfriend now. Maybe I'll post a couple in another blog entry.

• By the way - I cannot believe you're still reading this. Seriously - all I ever do is babble! Thanks for taking the time...that's totally awesome of you!

I'm sure most of you noticed that I was gone for three days. You might not have realized how long I was gone, but I can imagine that some of you knew I was M.I.A. Here's the story:

Being the compulsive neat-freak I am, I decided I was going to clean up my computer and delete a bunch of files I never use or don't need. Everything was going along just fine. I had moved everything that wasn't a program file to my H drive. Well, in the process of doing all of this, I thought I had moved my picture folder to the H drive as well. I deleted the original folder - thinking I had copied it to the other drive.

I was wrong.

I lost about 15,000 pictures...give or take a few thousand. I totally panicked! I have a lot of them backed up to DVDs, but I haven't done a decent back-up since before we moved to Oregon! All the pictures and video of my Dad's visit were gone...etc.

Well, Lonnie ended up having to run some file recovery software on my computer. I wasn't able to touch my computer until it was finished. Three days later, here I am! It took three days to get about 75% of my pictures back. The other 25% are history, but oh well! I'd much rather have 75% of them than none of them! And yes - I got a lot of my Dad in there, so whew!!!

So there you have it. I'm not dead, nor is anyone else. I just pulled the biggest blonde moment of my life! DUH!

There will be a story on the Discovery Channel TONIGHT at 9:00PM that I, for one, will be watching. This is some freaky-deaky stuff!

An Indonesian fisherman who feared that he would be killed by tree-like growths covering his body has been given hope of recovery by an American doctor - and Vitamin A.

Dede, now 35, baffled medical experts when warty "roots" began growing out of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident.

The welts spread across his body unchecked and soon he was left unable to carry out everyday household tasks.

Sacked from his job and deserted by his wife, Dede has been raising his two children - now in their late teens - in poverty, resigned to the fact that local doctors had no cure for his condition.

To make ends meet he even joined a local "freak show", parading in front of a paying audience alongside victims of other peculiar diseases.

If you want to read the entire story...and watch some video of this, HERE is the original site.

Here's a picture of the "roots"
...and as you can see, his arms look like tree limbs.