Thanks for checking on me. I got the tree on the stand, and the room cleaned, but no not yet decorated.

The 11 year old is my youngest. Did I give the impression that I ignore my kids?

He's not ignored, not even close. He's sitting next to me right now playing minecraft on the other laptop. He's in the school play which I spend a lot of time at volunteering, and he does sports which I'm always driving him around to and from. He is very social and athletic, so I do have to put on the happy face quite a bit. Way outside my comfort zone, but I do it for him.

Older son, 17, comes home from rehab on Sunday. I miss him terribly and pray that we'll be able to heal this mess of the meth addiction.

My mom is coming to town tomorrow, I'm looking forward to that. She will probably gladly decorate the tree.

I'm getting used to life without lithium, over a month now. It's going ok, the depression lasted a few weeks and seems to have flipped to a bit of hypo, but I think I'll be ok if I make sure to get proper sleep and watch out for unhealthy behaviors. I feel very certain that I won't repeat the hypo/manic mistakes of this time last year, which were pretty extreme. I'm feeling very reflective and pensive at the moment.