It was just about this time last year. End of April - Suzanna's birthday. My first excursion back into social life since the hospital. I hadn't slept much the night before and was wasted tired. But I had to go. It was Suzanna's birthday. There were alot of us in the house that day. Karen wrote Suzanna a card on her stomach in black magic marker. Drew had to change his card because I couldn't remember how old Suzanna was.

Paul was our driver.

Suzanna and I shared some great health related jokes. The punchlines were all 'and then she died'. Drew and Ben danced a lot with the 3 year-olds. Nance showed up with Wally, Mike and the Raven were there, J-10 and Deborah arrived at some point.

It was a family thing.


Once back at the house someone went and bought more liquor. Now, this is a common occurrence in my house but as I was recovering from a major illness and really tired, I didn't want an all night event and was hoping they would all soon leave. It was someone else's birthday also, someone who would be at the bar where they were headed. Karen appropriately changed the name on her stomach for their next event. Ben decided he wanted to write a card too so he wrote it on Drew's stomach. While he was in the middle of it Karen called him a copycat and he sneakily changed it into 'happy bird' with an illustration. Wally the dog was staying with us at the time.

During this, Piotr calls. OK, don't get me wrong - Piotr is like a brother to me - however if you're looking for a quiet evening alone and he's already started drinking he's not really the one to invite over. The next part is a bit whiskeyblurrywhiskey, but from several discreet inquiries I've made it went something like this.

I told Drew to tell him that there was no party here. Piotr must have called from around the corner as he arrives within minutes. Ben drew all over Piotr's face with the marker. For some reason Piotr decided to leave and not go to the bar with the others. He rode his bicycle back to Pilson along the railroad tracks. Some train cops stopped him to ask him what he was up to. They didn't arrest him but they took his picture and told him Hallowen was months away.

- Melinda