Hi Stephanie, I'm sorry I've been out of touch for a while. Life has been very busy since the start of summer. I read up on your blogs and feel the emotional cuts and bruises that you're dealing with right now. I think you have to be the strongest person that I have ever met. So courageous, so true. You truly are the model archetypical hero that I've been writing about. Perhaps, once I'm done with this little bit of fiction fantasy, I will do a little literary and tell your story. You are just so compelling, your quest is set before you with all of it's monsters that you must face. Daunting the task may be, battered and bruised you've been, but never broken is your spirit and love. Continue your course, Stephanie and slay those dragons! Tammi

Hi Stephanie, Yep, I'm usually up late due to the novel that I've been working on. (Perfect time of night for bringing thoughts to life, when everyone else is sleeping!) I too, have seen that very poster and always thought it sad that it's message seemed lost on most people. Our world has become an absurdity in it's constant persuit of "things." To think that thousands of years ago, societies sacrificed sweat and blood to create the wonders that still stand to this very day and it is the efforts of those ancestors who in working toward their own progression that has given us the things that we so ignorantly take for granted. Places like Matchu Picchu and the pyramids still make us marvel, but when we're gone, what will be left of us to be remembered by? Not much. It was Carl Jung that said, "A sense of wider meaning to one's existence is what raises a man beyond mere getting and spending. If he lacks this sense, he is lost and miserable." I believe the reasons why our world is so miserable is because somewhere down the line we forgot this fundamental principal. What's worse is to see people lacking any sort of compassion for anyone because of being so self absorbed. We in essence are accomplishing a slow form of mass suicide. Anyway, on a lighter note, I plan to major in a few areas of study - English Lit., PR and Marketing, so that I will be able to market myself in the writing world. Of course, I'm a bit undecided because I also have a love of history (especially in the Renaissance / Medieval era) and philosophy. I am a lifelong learner as well so it's hard to just pick one area of study! I am so glad to have met you, Stephanie and promise to keep in touch. Please keep me updated in the progress with your grandkids. I hope everything comes together soon there. Oh and BTW, YES our kitty Byron is male too! I'm hopelessly surrounded! :) Take Care, Tammi

Keep your chin up, Hon! You WILL overcome this. And what a triumph it will be, the day that you are able to hold those grandbabies again and NO ONE will be able to take them from you again.

TY SO much for taking time out to offer me kind words and advice, especially while you're going through such a difficult time! Someone who can look past their own troubles to comfort and support a virtual stranger is a rare and wonderful gem! I really appreciate it. It is my sincerest hope that you're grandchildren are returned to you soon. All children need that sort of example that you are putting forth; that feeling of unconditional love and caring for the universal spirit called humanity. It is a fundamental that sadly is not taught to most children nowadays. Anyhow, thank you again for your time and take care! Tammi

Busy mom of 3 boys, my husband and I work hard to provide our children with all the love and security that we possibly can, things of which you cannot place any pricetag upon. It is for this reason that I find the society in which we live in today distasteful with it's emphasis on the materialistic aspects of life. It seems that the only things made to matter today is what kind of car you drive and how big the pool in the backyard is; that is of course if you even have one. The point isn't to be happy, it's to compete. To be someone means being the one on your block driving the H2 or Lexus, to be the one with the biggest and most expensive house, to be the one in the designer clothes. Success is not measured by merit or personal growth anymore, but by the envy you create in your surrounding neighbors. It is no wonder with such ridiculously high expectations and standards that so many of us are feeling the pressures of what is considered precedence. Most Americans scratch out a living only to barely able to feed and clothe the families that they work so hard for. Forget owning a house, we can barely make rent! Lord help us if the '88 Civic dies (which is the one and only working vehicle.)  And when all is said and done, our "Golden Years" will be spent struggling to survive without any kind of retirement, not to mention with little to no assistance from the Social Security that we've put money into our whole lives. What an awful existance we've created for ourselves. Worse still that there is no stopping it. We have found ourselves victim to run along in the race, far from being any kind of threat to win; we're just trying to keep from passing out due to dehydration!

In my effort to keep up with the "world's demands" I have looked into going back to school as due to circumstance, I never finished college. I'm sure there is some perverse high ranking politician out there that finds beauty in the price of inflation. What has been achieved however, is that the poor and common folk of today are no longer entitled to a simple education without signing over your soul to a loan officer. My little family is strong and I have no doubt that we'll survive, however I am determined to find another way. I am looking for information on how to obtain the government grants that are out there and would appreciate any information that you have. In doing so, (and I would encourage others out there of a like mind to do so as well,) I will be forcing the government to do what it's supposed to be doing... working for me as an American!