First of all, we went out last Saturday and mostly browsed around. We did get a couple of things, though. A fan on a stand that’s in the living room, and I got two CDs. Not counting Living in the USA and the 70s one I ordered, I now have a total of 108 CDs. At Best Buy I got Hasten Down the Wind which has several songs I sing. Also, her latest one in English is called Feels Like Home. It’s a lot like her older stuff and even Tom likes it. I haven’t learned it all yet, but I will.

Before we went shopping and looked around, we went to Red Lobster. That was great.

Kim called this afternoon. She’s still madly in love with Doug and says it’s mutual. She hasn’t told Doug yet that I’m the one behind the letters and is gonna wait till I send 1 or 2 more. I mail them to her along with the letters I send her with an addressed envelope to his PO Box in Vernon, CT, then she mails it to him.

She still says that she wouldn’t be one bit shocked if I told her I was pregnant and says she sees it happening. I told her that sometimes I see it, but mostly I don’t.

She told me Minnie was a nice, down-to-earth, cool person that Bob would hardly look at or acknowledge. True to his letter, he “couldn’t keep his eyes or hands off of her.” She still believes in his innocence but sees no way any more than he does that he’ll get out alive. She thinks he’ll die in there of some heart-related issue. Well, it’s been a long time since I ever felt he’d make it out of there alive.

She also promised to write him more on the condition that he destroys every one of her letters. She doesn’t want anyone to ever see them.

I’m 99% sure no one would call, let alone come here concerning any of my letters (should he die or whatever), but I’ve got a request of my own for him. Not to destroy my 100-and-something letters, but to destroy all my envelopes that have address labels on them. Also, any letters with any addresses, names, or numbers. Then, from there on out, I’ll ask that he rip off and destroy my address labels or destroy the whole envelope. I still want to use address labels, so anything that needs to be returned to me can be.

Great news today at the doctor’s office. I was so nervous beforehand like most people and fearing the worst. Like him saying, “Jodi, I hate to tell you this, but the skin graft is all messed up. I have to operate again.”

However, as Tom said, and as I knew deep down in my heart, he said it looked great. Tom kept insisting I’d have to wear a bathing cap this summer and I told him I was determined to get around that. How the hell would I get all this hair up into it anyway? So, when I went to ask the doctor about it, Tom looked at me as if to say, sorry, but you aren’t gonna get your way with this one. Sure enough, though, and thank God, the doctor said due to the fact that everyone’s different I’ll have to experiment and see what my ear can or cannot tolerate. Growing up at beaches every year and swimming most of my life in so many places, I know I’ve never had Swimmer’s Ear or any kind of ear infection that I can remember, so that’s a good sign. One advantage the bad ear has is that it’s drilled straight in, whereas the good ear’s not, cuz that’s how normal ear canals are. Anyway, he says my ear canal is almost the size of a regular one and to just tip my head over when I get out of the water. I do that anyway with the good ear. If there are any problems, there are drops I can get to help avoid infections and problems like that. He said you can get it other ways, too. From showers, rainstorms, etc. Well, I grew up doing an awful lot of swimming for 3 months at the beach and where it rains a lot, and have never had a problem, so that helps to know.

Little by little I’m getting color. Arizona’s definitely back, thank God! Did I mention how our weather was like Massachusetts for about a week? It was cold, damp, rainy, and it really sucked. It was 88º today and tomorrow it’ll be 93º. The pool temperature was 74º today and this weekend we’re gonna heat it up. I hope the temperature stays where it is. Better yet, goes up.

Later...

I don’t know if the owner of that dog came to pick it up or not, but all’s been quiet enough from over there, so that’s cool. I hear an occasional scream, but nothing I can’t deal with. They’re still playing out front, but they’ve been quieter at it. I’m still not sure if I’ll leave her a note to come over to chat or have coffee. She’s probably too busy and who’d watch the kids? She’d have to haul the herd over here and no way! This place isn’t baby-proof and never will be unless we have one and I’m still almost sure we won’t.

Now here’s some very strange, funny, weird, yet great news. I wish to hell I taped the conversation I had with my mom earlier cuz it was great. I forgot to ask how long Dad’s gonna be gone to New England and also if they cracked my secret code in fingerspelling. I typed the alphabet and interpreted that up top of the message which said - I love and miss you both.

Also, in 3-4 days a package will arrive from them. I started next week’s letter to them and jokingly said, “So, ma, when’s the package gonna be here?” as I usually do.

Anyway, if Andy, who’s seen the bad side of her, heard us talking, he wouldn’t believe it was the same Dureen O he used to know. Dad was there too, and they had company. It sounded like they could’ve been playing cards.

Later...

Continuing with what I was last saying - I told her about my ear and said (which is shockingly true) he didn’t even have to vacuum me today! Then she said, “Have him do your carpets, then.”

Then I told her our vacuum was broken and she asked why. I told her my hair jammed it up and she said, “You’re not supposed to vacuum your hair with it, you idiot.”

So then she goes, “Tell me. Is Tom really that caring or are you just putting on a show and bullshitting me?” Then after I reminded her that I tell her like it is and know how to dump a jerk and wasn’t bullshitting her, she said, “Well, he’ll get the stamp of approval only when I meet him.”

Of course she was teasing me, but I told her in their letter that it’d take a hell of a ton of bricks to fall on Tom’s head to turn him into a psycho, and how if that were possible I’d call them just like I did at the NHA and say, “Look. I’m in a really bad situation here and I need help to get an apartment till I can dance the money back to you and get on my feet. No pun intended.” Then to make her feel better, cuz nobody’s perfect I said, “I’ll tell you something negative about him. He’s a slob, an occasional procrastinator, and doesn’t always pick up after himself.”

She also told me I was really growing up and she just may like me after all. Well, I certainly didn’t expect either of us to like each other, even though we always loved each other. And it’s good to know we can get along, even though we’ll never be alike or agree on everything. She asked if there was a place to sleep when she got here and she said she was getting the bedroom and I had to sleep on the couch and wait on her. I told her I’d dress like a whore just to piss her off while I waited on her. She said, “Oh, yeah. Same old little whore.”

We were cracking up and she said when she gets here we can discuss my gift to her. She said with all those computers I said we had she was sure we could put something together. I really wish we could and we hope to someday. It may take a while, though.

We were teasing each other when I said I wouldn’t trade this life I’ve got today for the old one. She said she’d never take me back and I was like, “Good! I’d never go back with you. You’re a bossy nag.”