Every time I come to Missouri I must admit that I have a grand ole time. This year was no exception, barring some bad news and scares spersed in between.

As you may know because I've mentioned it a couple times before, my dear sister-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer not too long ago. Fortunately, she caught it extremely early (she had Stage 1 of 4) and the lump was only about two centimeters. Vonn, my brother, e-mailed Wally and I yesterday telling us the results of the surgery to remove the lump and the tests that had been done on the two lymph nodes the surgeons had removed on top of the lump.

And everything's just fine. No cancerous spreads to the lymphs nodes at all. That means that Nat's only going to have to have four chemotherapy treatments instead of six. I was tempted to have a celebratory beer last night, but it was hella late and the goddamnfucking neighbors set off fireworks basically right under my window. So, I had to have a word with them.

Before Nat's surgery, she, Vonn and my niece Erin flew up for a visit with Grampa Wally and Auntie Clare. I hadn't seen Erin since she was about a year old. She's so shy at first. Like, she carries around her pink blankie at all times, it seems, so when I first saw her I said hello but she pulled the blanket over her head and just wouldn't acknowledge me. But after she got over her shyness, she would talk for, literally, five minutes straight - this constant stream of words and thoughts all strewn together that made little to no sense. And, naturally, it was adorable.

I was reading a Cinderella story to her and she said to me, "I want to learn how to read like Auntie Clare". And Vonn said, "One day, pretty soon, you will. And then you can read all sorts of wonderful books and go to college one day, too, like Auntie Clare". "Do you go to college, Auntie Clare?" she asked. "Yes, Erin, I do" I replied. "I'm gonna go to Auntie Clare's college ... but not yet."

And the infamous "goddamn" story is another one of my favorites. At a certain age, kids just copy what people around them say. Vonn and Nat curse, quite a bit, so the first time Erin said "shit" at the dinner table when she dropped her fork, they toned it down in front of her. Vonn has this bad habit of saying "goddamn" whenever Erin drops things in the car (because she's in the back seat, and Vonn's driving, and it's really hard to extract pink blanket out from under a seat when you're driving). Then she started picking up on that, as well, so he had to stop that altogether. One special day she drops something in the car and Vonn says "Eriiin" and in a perfect likeness of how he says it she says "goddamn!" And he about falls out of the car laughing.

Oh, I have so many stories to tell about that kid. And pictures too. As soon as Vonn sends me the batch that he took in Missouri, I'll post a couple here too.

More exciting news. Gosh, I haven't had this much good news since, oh, a long time. But, anyway, my now roommate Claire calls me at about noon one day and says in a veryvery hurried manner "I got a three-day pass to Voodoo Fest!" My natural response was "Great! ... And that means what?" To which she replied "Rage Against the Machine and The Smashing Pumpkins are playing". And I flipped my lid! Only my favorite band ever! So I run to a computer at the library, plunk down $120, and bam! I've got 'em too. *spontaneous orgasm*

The only, and I mean only, bad news in this situation is that it's the weekend of Ghost Roast at Hendrix. Hmm, dressing up as the Venture Bros. and getting mildly inebriated (I swore off being drunk for the rest of my life, and that's one promise to myself that I have absolutely kept), or skipping a day of classes, going to New Orleans with Claire, staying with her two friends who have a house there (along with loads of her Baton Rouge peeps that I've gotten to know), probably getting mildly inebriated there too, and seeing the Pumpkins, Tiësto, Fall Out Boy, Plain White T's, and like a gazillion more bands.

Hmmm. Choices, choices.

Even more good news, I'm flying back to Misipah tomorrow. Well, first to Memphis and then driving back to Mississippi. This time there had better not be any kinds of fuck-ups. Like my flight getting cancelled. Which is what happened when I tried to fly to Kansas City. Bastarding NWA.
Not so hot news, I work on Friday. But, good news, I get to see my boss Joe again, who is the height of awesomeness.

Again with the good news: Sunday was me and Allens' (how do you say that correctly? 'Allen's and mine's'?) four-month anniversary. Not that long, I know, but it seems so much longer. It's strange that way. But that's the only way it's strange. Otherwise, it's quite fab.