We've been up since three thirty a.m. here... things continue to be unusually obscure. Got a phonecall about a dead guy found behind a store. Appears to be a murder. Kenny says this year being as odd as it has been can only mean one thing: The Red Sox are going to win the World Series. It's his birthday today... all morning his phone has been ringing about the dead man, which for some reason almost seems to fit in with the way things have been going the past nine months.

And after a one hour phonecall with Nikki last night, I believe she is ready to work on helping the doctors understand her. I don't think she knew before why it is so important to let the people working with you know where your thoughts are at. I also think she's ready to give understanding herself a try. Got some books together for her, along with some other personal items, and will be bringing them to her this week. We had a good laugh about the parallels in our lives, even with the differences. It was great to be able to laugh together within the harsh reality of the situation. Somehow I think this particular phonecall will become the starting point of things really getting better for her. For the first time ever I think she is beginning to understand that becoming her father is not her destiny or fate. I called him to alert him to what is going on, but as usual his condition is at a point where he can't see outside of himself. I know this part of things is what has made things a little harder on Nikki than they should be, but I think as time goes on she will let go of her anger towards her father as well, as he is not to blame (you can point the finger of genetic coding down many, many generations... nobody is to blame and the origin could have happened to anyone.)

I'm personally not climbing out of anything here, just sitting on a ledge inside myself, keeping out of danger and just functioning until I have the time and quiet to sort the rest out. There's almost too many other things going on to deal with anything else besides Nikki just yet. If I remain focussed, as her mom, and if she remains intent on getting through this... there can only be a positive result.

In the meantime, as things get worked out there with Nikki, the boys will be starting school back up again this week, so we are having a back-to-school party for the neighborhood kids who were here most days this entire summer. With the start of school we realized we were planning to start the School Scrabble group this year, but we've decided that there's no way to run the School Scrabble group with the unpredictableness of Nikki's condition, so we're going to give KC's former teacher who wanted to help us run it the kit. We can help in smaller ways, like going to the school once every other month to teach some of the basics on the huge Scrabble rug with the velcro letters we put together, but we can't forsee being able to do things on a weekly basis as there's no way to tell what Nikki's situation will be on a daily and weekly basis. As time goes by we hope to be able to play a more active role in the group, but for now we've decided it's best to keep things as flexible as possible just in case Nikki's situation needs more of our time and energy.

Wints is excited about showing his new dog book to his classroom, KC is excited to play in his first football game after practicing for weeks. They both had a great summer and seem anxious to see everyone at school again... it's a fantastic time to be in the elementry school they attend.... Each classroom has a computer, the majority of teachers grew up in the 70s and 80s, and it's a small enough school that everyone really knows everyone. When there's a school concert, attendance is almost always close to 100%. When one student is going through a hard time, the entire school body will help. It's a very organized school. About the only whacky thing at the school is the nurse, stories of her phonecalls to parents circulate throughout the hallways during any open house or school event. She's a nurse who takes her job... very seriously. Very, very seriously. Some might say too seriously. I personally like her quirky nature, although she has said some things to me that I found amusing when I know she did not mean them to be funny.

I'm waiting for Kenny to be hungry so I can start a nice, big breakfast. He's usually hungry within half an hour of waking up, but this morning took a little longer for him to crave something in his tummy...

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, there's a dead guy behind the stooooooore, happy birthday to you...