I'm going to start with a backstory for those who did not know me six-and-a-half years ago. Those who did can skip to the bottom. Six-and-a-half years ago (in June of 2003) was my birthday. It was no ordinary birthday that year. John had been in Kuwait and that was the day he and a few others who were left behind were heading into Iraq. It was a stressful day. Something I was hoping to avoid considering I was eight months pregnant at the time. But late in the afternoon I received a surprise: flowers with a stuffed white bear and chocolate. All from John. He had ordered them a week early because he wasn't sure if he would be able to closer to my birthday. At the time the bases had few ways of communicating back to the states (it was very early in the war). My next birthday surprise was a new laptop. The one I owned had no Internet capabilities and John wanted to be able to communicate with me while I was in the hospital. He was very hopeful the computers would be working in Iraq by then (it was his group that got the parts they needed if I remember correctly). The computers were working and thanks to my cousin Phoebe he had regular updates while I was in prelabor/labor. We will always be grateful to her beyond words. And to my friend Shannon who was at the hospital with me, along with my Mom who was watching over Jesse.

So, the fact is my computer was six-and-a-half years old and had tried to die on me a few years ago. Phoebe's husband, Leon, saved the day on that one. I've been doing monthly, sometimes weekly, back-ups just in case. But it still had its quirks. One of which is while the machine is on you couldn't move the screen or it would go dark. Well, that is where were yesterday morning. John was doing something on my computer, honestly I cannot remember what. But he moved the screen and darkness was upon us. The last people to put anything on the school spreadsheet was the girls and saving is not always on their minds. John managed to save then shut it down. Two hours later he told me he bought me a new computer and we were going to pick it up. I didn't expect it, but I'm sure I'm going to like it once I adjust to the new office programs. And I've lost my favorite printer. It no longer works on either of our computers. That is sad, but I'll adjust I'm sure. Today, I get to try out my new computer.