10/5/07  What a great summer I had. Lost enough weight to wear a bathing suit. It's a corny looking tankini with a skirted bottom but it's a bathing suit none the less and I got to go swimming! My brother in law and wife have a nice pool and they could care less that I have spots all over (psoriasis) so I felt really comfortable and ever so happy to be swimming again. I love the water!! I went to a New Hampshire summer sleep-away camp for a month each summer from age 8 to 13.  As much as I was terribly homesick and cried myself to sleep many nights. (there was no talking on the phone to your parents back then)  I  now look back and realize all the wonderful things I was taught and the places I was able to go. I learned canoeing, riflery, archery and swimming. I hiked up Mt. Washington. We stayed in a lean-to for the night half way up. I also canoed down the Connecticut river and made camp on the banks over night. Trying to remember the happier times and not the extreme lonliness and sense of abandonment. My parents both worked which was unusual in the 50's so they needed me to be somewhere safe during my summer vacation. Unfortunately I spent many years resentful of my Mom for making me go through that. I would never put my 8 year old in a camp in another state for an entire month! That is fairly young to be away from our parents. Anyway, back to this summer. Besides the happy times swimming I had some scares. I felt a lump in my breast but it turned out to be a swollen gland. I have just recovered from pneumonia and now have after effects with pain while breathing but the doc says it is not life threatening. So it was a summer of ups and downs but the ups were so much fun!!As I said before I love this website because of the journal aspect. When I came here last night after quite a while I read back and it is really interesting to see how I felt on any given day. Our grandchildren (Nick's kids)  are growing fast!! Collin (4) is going to pre-school half a day now. He is so precious when he talks about the kids and what they are doing. Andrew (3) is a spitfire and Emma (18 months) has just mastered the word NO and she is firm about it! Too funny!My daughter Dawn has one little tiger named Sam. He will be a year on Nov. 30th and is the cutest baby!! I am a little bit predjudiced but Damn he's a sweetie!!