For new readers, who may not have read my author notes, this is written in a conversational way as I talk to my deceased husband. When I refer to someone just as "you" this means I am addressing my husband, Evan.

In early August, Don talked to the Chiropractor who was thinking of opening a new clinic, and he was told he would like him to head it up. The problem was it would be two more months before the building would be ready. Don and Kimberly needed money immediately. He had refinished all my cabinets in my kitchen and in all three bathrooms, and he still needed work. 

A few months earlier, we'd tried to help both Don and Christi get their debts under control by co-signing on loans for each of them between twelve and eighteen thousand. It became clear those were loans we would have to pay off or have our credit ruined. We had decided it was best to give him a way to work for the money, rather than just loaning it to him, so we looked for more projects.

You mentioned since we had a high pitched roof above our upstairs bedrooms there was a lot of space going to waste. We didn’t need a bigger house, especially since our children were all out of the house now. You said the room you were thinking about and that you were drawing up plans for would be a sunroom. Building it would give us a view to the west toward Lookout Mountain and the sunsets. Our house had windows in every direction except west with the exception of the bedroom we’d made earlier over the garage. In order to make a sunroom, it would mean adding another floor with stairs leading up. The only place we could put stairs would be where my large walk-in closet was.

I didn’t want to give it up. As large as it was, it was packed floor to ceiling. I never threw anything away. In addition to owning clothes going back twenty years and in all sizes reflecting my weight swings, I had hundreds of books in there. We worked for hours on your plans, trying to figure out ways to use less of my closet space for the stairs. At last, we came up with a way to have steep stairs go up five steps from the balcony and turn sharply for the rest of the way which would only use half of my closet.

Don started dismantling my closet like someone possessed. In a few hours those books were stacked all over the floor of our master bedroom. The clothes and shoes which I’d collected for years were scattered everywhere. I wanted to cry, but once started, we had no choice but to continue. You got busy building shelves in the downstairs closet below the lower staircase. Slowly, we were able to create a place for all my books. I gave away many garments to Goodwill and tossed away many bags of unusable items which had somehow gotten stored in my closet. It was fortunate you'd always keep your clothes in the smaller closet in our room, so the sacrifice of space was all mine.

About the time it started to look like we might soon have a new room, Don decided to start training at another Chiropractor Clinic. He’d interviewed earlier, and Dr. Pollard was open to giving him a try. Now he had fewer hours per day for our project. The room was left with all the tools and building materials scattered about the floor for an indefinite period.

Fortunately for me, my dad’s insurance had approved another few months, during which he would have home health care workers come over and visit with him and give him baths. This took a little of the stress off of me, since it kept him occupied and clean. The service was able to provide the diapers and other things he required. Although he still complained about having the pacemaker, his overall health seemed better, and he had stopped passing out.

Carol had met a new girl who was looking for a roommate, and they had agreed to room together. It was an awkward situation, because they barely knew each other. They had in common an interest in Feng Shui and some out-of-the-mainstream healing arts. We wondered if their personalities would be compatible. Carol was a person who had strong feelings, but didn’t always share them. She was reluctant to take a dominant role, and it looked as if this girl might turn out to be temperamental and pushy. Carol was inclined to take a lot from a person before she caused a scene.

Christi was still dealing with some serious car problems, but she wasn’t altogether unhappy, because one of her massage clients was a disc jockey at a Christian radio station, and he was willing to play some of the songs she had recorded and some she had written herself.

Connie’s instructor in her Interior Design class had set up an interview for her, and had gotten permission for her to start working at a new fabric and furniture store in a nearby town. The company had never used a student intern before, but they were looking forward to it and she was excited about it as well. It meant Connie would be driving an extra 40 miles a day on days she worked there. Charlie was still holding a night job at the hospital.

As we moved into September of 1996, trouble was brewing in the Middle East again. The Gulf War had begun back in 1990 when the Iraqi military invaded Kuwait and annexed it. A US led commission of 35 countries had responded launching ground, air and sea attacks to expel the Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait in the initial 5-week campaign. Iraqi forces launched missiles into Israel drawing them into the conflict. Kuwait was liberated with a loss of around 10,000 of the Iraqi forces and only about 300 of the coalition. Despite the victory, tensions in the area continued with Saddam Hussein still in power.  The US was now launching targeted missile strikes into the area again.