The e-mail which follows was originally linked to on the index page. Now that I'm finally getting back on track, on August 31st, I'm retroactively turning it into an entry, for archival purposes. I've taken the liberty of making two or three minor corrections in spelling and grammar along the way.

Depending on what your local news is like, and how closely you've been following it, the following may come as either a shock or a reassurance.

This past Monday morning, my parents, my maternal grandfather, eleven of my siblings, and myself, were in the family van, heading back from Brookline MA to Far Rockaway NY. (My brother's wedding had been the preceding day. I missed the whole thing, but that is another long story, and one which no longer matters.)

Basically, a tire blew out on the parkway (?) in Connecticut, and the van flipped over several times before coming to a halt, right-side-up. Injuries were sustained all around, with those of us on the right-hand side of the van sustaining the heaviest injuries.

My grandfather apparently died instantly. This is not a fact I'm prepared to come to term with yet.

On the other hand, the rest of us survived, with is nothing short of miraculous in itself. Amazingly, given the traffic, no other cars were involved, and on the whole, we're all doing okay. Amongst the survivors, I came out with the second worst set of injuries, and I'm doing okay, although I'm heading right back to bed after I finish typing this, and I'm know that doing this in the first place DOES constitute overextending myself. But I was discharged from the hospital this evening, with a long list of medications to take, and a few doctors to see (most notably an ocular plastic surgeon, as most of the bottom of my left eyelid was cut clean off, and things need to be done about that). I'm okay. So are the rest of the family. We've been informed that we wouldn't be able to say that had anyone not been wearing their seat belt.

My mother still isn't out of the woods yet, having sustained some very serious damage, but surgery has gone very well so far, thank God, and there's much cause for hope for a speedy recovery... with "speedy" here defined in weeks, perhaps months, though. Needless to say, your prayers and so on would be appreciated.

I don't remember the accident, incidentally.

As an aside, it was interesting to hear on the news last night that I was now stable. I don't think anybody's called me that in years. :-)

Also, if you're going to sustain potentially fatal head injuries in an automobile accident, I highly recommend doing so near Hartford Hospital. The staff there is incredible.

[Remainder, with contact information, snipped.]