Wanted to post some news about Fat Jack. He's my friend that I worked with at Midwest Recovery. We had many, many good times together. It was the most interesting and likeable job I ever had, and I'd like nothing better than to be able to go back and work with Jack and Marvin, the owner of the company, again. Of course, things and times have changed. Marvin has retired and, according to Jack, he and his wife travel a lot. I'm not able to go back to work, and neither is Jack.

Goldman took me over to Belleville yesterday evening to see Jack. He's been recently moved to Willowcreek Rehab Nursing Facility on Main Street in Belleville, Ill. He went there from St. Anthony's Hospital in Alton where the doctors told the family that they didn't think he would be with us much longer. They told his son and daughter this almost two weeks ago. He was still needing some breathing assistance yesterday with some apparatus, but was able to sit up on the side of his bed and eat his dinner. He can still be rightfully be called 'Fat Jack'. There are those of you who probably remember his singing at Den's funeral and at Den's and my wedding. The breathing apparatus was interfering with his talking yesterday, but I'm hoping he won't need it much longer. Chris is going to take me back to see him again tomorrow for our Thursday outing. Chris and I will have dinner somewhere between here and Belleville.

I had a great email from my longtime friend from GMAC. I oft-times called her Lizbeth. She had to move to Chicago to keep her job with GMAC after 28 years or lose her retirement benefits. Her husband is self employed and stayed here. They travel back and forth when they can.. I've probably put all this in the blog before but GM used to be such a great company to work for that it's hard to believe how they are now. Now Liz is down to 30 weeks before she reaches her 30 years and will lose all her benefits if she retires now. She says rumors about the future of the company and the employees are flying. Some employee downsizing and some office closings. Not what she wants to hear, for sure. Sad, sad to hear.

Liz has two sons, Josh and Tommy. I know I've written about them before, but they are men now. I've known Liz and Dave since before these guys were born. Josh is in his last year at Logan Chiroptactory School. He passed his Comprehensive Boards last week so now he has his student license and will practice on real patients on a daily basis. The pain I get in my leg may be from arthritis in my back so I'm going to ask my primary care physician if seeing a chiropractor might help and possibly see Josh.

Tommy is a senior at Mizzou. He began his radiology program in June and loves it. He works in a hospital a lot and finds the classroom BORING!. He and his girlfriend of six years recently broke up, and he's finding that playing the field is pretty interesting.

Their family dog recently died. Dave works out of their home here in St. Louis and Max (the dog) was his constant companion. I'm not a dog lover but I know how hard this loss is for Dave, but it does free him up to go see Liz in Chicago. I like for her to come to St. Louis so the three of us can do something together. Liz says she keeps up with me and mine through the blog so I hope I have more frequent emails from her.

Joe is going to get one of his kids to send pictures of Dave's 44th birthday celebration which was last weekend. Margaret just called and asked me to ride over to the commisary at Scott AFB with them in the morning. I'll get Rose to get some pictures of them when they pick me up. I hope Donald and Vita are taking a lot of photos in Europe and send us some. Mark and Karen leave either today tomorrow for their trip to Italy. They know how much we enjoy pictures.