Here’s the letter I sent out with my holiday cards; hope you enjoy it.<\/p>\n
Hugs,
\nMe<\/p>\n
December 8, 2004<\/p>\n
Dear Family and Friends,<\/p>\n
Happy Holidays! We hope the past year has been a good one for each of you. It was the best year ever for me.<\/p>\n
I have now been free of all prescriptions for over a year. I have
\nbeen helping many other people learn how they can do the same. I
\nfeel better than ever, thanks to the other things I am doing for my
\nhealth. I am running 6 online groups and two local self-help
\ngroups. Some years it has felt that I would never get to this
\npoint, and that I would feel miserable all the time. I do not
\ntrust a psychiatrist to look out for anyone\u2019s interests save those of
\nthe pharmaceutical companies. My website
\n(http:\/\/moss.witchesgathering.com) has the information on what I have
\nreplaced these harmful drugs with.<\/p>\n
Anyhow, I have been feeling better and better, and have been getting
\nmore involved in the community, both local and online. I am
\ncurrently managing 4 websites and am building a commercial website for
\nmy old friend Blind Lemming Chiffon (blindlemmingchiffon.com). I
\nam on two local non-profit boards and consult on another one. I
\nhave re-connected with my local\/regional religious community, and have
\ngotten many comments on how much better and happier I look.<\/p>\n
And on top of everything else, there is a wonderful lady named Kayla
\nDodd in my life. This time I\u2019m healthy enough to enjoy it and not
\nhave my so-called \u201cdisease\u201d get in the way of my relationship.
\nKayla moved here in October and we were Handfasted in early
\nNovember. Everything is simply wonderful between us. She
\nhas found work in the area, and is very motivated to contribute in
\nevery way to our relationship. She has gained the love and
\nconfidence of my friends as well. I\u2019m still getting used to the
\n\u201cus\u201d-ness of the situation, and I\u2019m sure next year\u2019s letter will be
\njointly authored.<\/p>\n
Last December, my ex-wife Beth contacted me, and we have renewed our
\nfriendship. We love and trust each other more than we did when we
\nwere married, 15 years ago, and she has become friends with Kayla (she
\nhas known Kayla longer than I have been involved with her), and has
\nbeen looking out for both of us. I am still in contact with
\nLaura, my most recent ex, and Janet is talking to me as well; several
\nex-girlfriends are also maintaining contact. I\u2019m glad to be able
\nto maintain friendly relationships with people who have been a part of
\nmy life.<\/p>\n
While my finances are improving, I was not able to get out to L.A. for
\nmy grandmother\u2019s 100th birthday, and it could be another couple years
\nbefore I can manage a visit on my own. When I woke up from my
\ndoctor-induced stupor, I found myself pretty badly in debt; with much
\nhelp from my parents and newly-learned levels of responsibility, I have
\ncut it by more than half, and should be mostly out of debt in another
\ntwo years. I know y\u2019all don\u2019t NEED to know this, but it is
\nanother sign of my growing health.<\/p>\n
My performing career has taken a stutter-step forward. I had two
\nmajor concerts this year, at science fiction conventions in Raleigh and
\nAsheville. I\u2019ve sold a few more copies of my CD and lyric
\nbooks. A student at UNC-Asheville asked to record me in the
\nschool studios. The result wasn\u2019t great, and most of the
\nrecordings were lost in the computer, but one song survived the
\nexperience. My friend John Blackwell is also \u201cthreatening\u201d to get
\nhis studio together and finish the job, and Blind Lemming Chiffon has
\noffered to underwrite part of the project in exchange for my work on
\nhis website. It would be good to get some professional recordings
\nof my music. I may be getting old, but I can still make music.<\/p>\n
Speaking of which, it is hard to believe I\u2019m 52 now. I don\u2019t feel
\nit at all, unless you ask my back and ankles. If you had asked me
\nwhen I was 30, I would have thought that I would never make it this
\nfar. Now I\u2019m looking forward to another 52 years (one friend has
\nprophesied that I have another 58 to go; wishful thinking?).<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s hoping the coming year treats us all as well or better as the
\npast one did. Thank you all for being a part of my life.<\/p>\n
Hugs,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here’s the letter I sent out with my holiday cards; hope you enjoy it. Hugs, Me December 8, 2004 Dear Family and Friends, Happy Holidays! We hope the past year has been a good one for each of you. It was the best year ever for me. I have now been free of all prescriptions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacefulhippo.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}