Dead Letter Office

Yesterday my sister called and left a message asking if I would write a letter to my nephew, who is going on retreat soon, and apparently when these high school kids go on retreat they get letters from family members offering words of love and encouragement or advice or something like that. And I've written letters like this before to various members of my family when they've gone on retreats, and I'm sure at some point in my life I got a letter from someone in my family when I was on a retreat, although I don't remember it. Anyway, my sister asked if I would write to my nephew, because she says that he reminds her of me, and I would agree, I think that he's a lot like I was when I was in high school. And she's worried about him, which makes me think that he's probably getting involved with drinking or pot or sex or something like that. Who knows. But he's basically a real good kid. So anyway, Jesus, what the fuck am I supposed to write? I remember getting a letter from my other sister when I was 17 years old, and she gave me all kinds of advice that I didn't need and I didn't heed, and I've held it against her to this day. So the last thing I wanted to do was write a letter to my nephew, who I like, and have it become something that from this point on makes him think I'm a dick. So anyway, I did it, immediately after listening to my sister's message, I sat down and started typing away, writing a lot about things that were going on with me when I was in high school, and being fairly honest and down-to-earth about everything, and saying that I basically have no idea about what sort of place he's in right now. I have no idea about what he likes, who he spends his time with, what he wants out of life, etc. But I also said that I know his mom is worried about him, and that his mom is one of my absolute favorite people on earth, that if I was ever on top of a building about to jump off, his mom would be one of probably two people that could talk me down. So anyway, i wrote about a three page letter, and I think it was pretty honest and not presumptious, so I hope to god that it doesn't make him hate me. Really, I'm probably not the person in my family that should be writing encouraging letters to family members. The end result is that I feel like a dick anyway, and I think I would feel like a dick no matter what I wrote. Ugh. But it's been mailed so who knows what will happen.

In other non-news, I've been running and gyming and trying to eat well and staying away from the booze. Haven't had any alcohol for about 2 weeks, although tomorrow I am planning on going off the wagon on both my dieting and booze-abstention. Hanging out after work with folks from work, heading over to the rec room where I will have, most likely, nachos and G&T's and perhaps chickin fingers. Maybe not chicken fingers.

The weather is gettin' nice! Jeannie got home from work early this evening and we sat out on the porch! Felt great.

Lotsa work planned this weekend...