January, 2006  Well, Dear Reader, you may have noticed I haven't been online very much of late. I thought it best to leave a bit of a farewell for my online friends, without really knowing at this time how permanent it will be.

As lousy a year as 2004 was for me, 2005 made up for it in spades. Professionally, this year's highlight was a grant I'd earned for my writing during a classroom visit from my local congresswoman. My relationships with my students hit new heights from summer having several watching me play rec league volleyball to having even more of them help me move into my new home.

Personally, I had a fantastic year as well that seemed to improve as the year went on. From my last birthday weekend at Sybaris to several weekends away in Door County or Aurora Gardens to, despite a terribly busy autumn with a conference championship coaching, a simply amazing holiday season.

I hosted Christmas for the first time of my life, and Christmas Eve I was pleased to enjoy the company of my brother and sister-in-law, my mother, and Matt. In the morning we opened presents, I made a late breakfast, and the day was filled with the comforts of family I've missed since Daddy's passing.

Early in the afternoon, Matt left to pick up his daughter, and by the time he returned, his parents had driven over as well. We shared a second set of opening gifts. Mom went upstairs and came down with one more present, a clothing box addressed to Matt from Santa; I noticed the tag was written in her handwriting. The eight of us shared many laughs, hugs, and thank-you's and my living room was still sort of a mess. Matt sat over by Mom, set the Santa gift on his lap, removed the wrapping, and opened the top of the box. He looked inside and had a disappointed look on his face, saying it wouldn't fit him. I figured it was a wrong-sized sweater or something, and I thought it mildly rude that he'd said it without taking it out of the box. Mom just smiled, though, and suggested to him it might fit someone else.

He closed the box, came over, and sat next to me. He re-opened the box for me to see, my heart practically exploded from my chest, my jaw dropped, and my eyes welled up with tears. Inside the box, on top of plenty of padding to make the gift seem heavy enough and to keep the real gift from moving about, was a �-carat diamond solitaire on a band of gold. It was beautiful!

All that was left was the asking. He dropped to his knees before me and, in front of my mom, in front of my brother and sister-in-law, in front of his parents, and in front of my step-daughter-to-be, Matt asked if I'd marry him. I nodded quickly before I could speak, and as tears of joy fell from my eyes, I managed to say yes while I bent forward to hug and kiss him softly.

When we finally broke from the kiss, Matt took my hand and put on his engagement ring, then everyone came around to hug and kiss me and to hug Matt in congratulations... the most meaningful one to me was the one from his daughter.

After a wonderful day and Christmas dinner together, Matt's mom and dad took his daughter to their house, my mom drove my brother and sister-in-law to her house, and we had the rest of the next couple days all to ourselves. We ended up picking up bro and sis to spend their last full day in Wisconsin out skiing together before their flight home to Florida. Matthew and I rang in the new year in style, and here we are.

So, Dear Reader, the reason I've not been online of late is that I finally have a new roommate. Matt pretty much moved in after his last weekend with his daughter, back on Monday, December 12th. He'd had a long talk over that weekend to make sure it'd be okay with her, and obviously he had to let Mom know about it to get the whole Santa gift thing put together. He's put in his month's notice with his landlord and has to have everything moved out of his apartment by the end of January.

After months of waiting, I'm now officially off the market. We've set a tentative wedding date of June 16, 2007, basically giving us the entire summer to honeymoon. :)

And in the meantime? I thought it best to leave a bit of a farewell for my online friends. Thank you for putting up with me through my difficult times and for letting me touch a piece of you as you have with me.

I'm not certain how often I'll be able to come online, as now I've company at home late at nights when I can't sleep or when I'm done writing my lessons and texts. Until I next see you, Dear Reader, I wish you good health and good spirits, and hope that your realtime life is so rich and full that you've little time to rely on our little support group.

Thank you all once again, ~ Lou ~