Sorry for the abrupt departure for a couple of weeks. We had a perfect storm of crises that hit our home last week. There was Crisis One from Ian's school, which was disturbing, but was dealt with. Then Crisis Two hit, again from Ian's school, which was much more upsetting.

Crisis Two sent me into a tailspin. I sat around the house for a week playing back events in my head. This isn't happening to ME. THIS isn't happening to me.I was pretty much of a mess, until I called a lawyer. Crisis Two will still be lingering for another couple of weeks, but it has shrunk down to manageable levels of horror. Crisis Two is unbloggable, but if we ever meet in a bar and you buy me a couple of beers, I'll tell you about it.

Then there were the relatively minor Crises Three, Four, and Five. Crisis Three was a computer that wouldn't stop crashing. Crisis Four was a persistant bug that kept sending Jonah home from school in the middle of the day. Crisis Five was a leaky tube in the old Toyota that caused it to hemorrhage fluids. These crises would ordinarily be minor problems, but compounded with the first two, these evil ladies cackled at us and added to the general misery.

I'm still not sure how to put a frame around the past couple of weeks. I'll probably need some distance from these events to form a satisfying conclusion, moral lesson, or political rant. I'm still too close to things, though a few conclusions are starting to form.

One is that I'm quite grateful to all the support from friends. The notes on this blog, e-mail, and Twitter were a HUGE source of support. Not to mention the phone calls and offers for dinner. My virtual community and my tangible community have become intertwined and inseparable. Thanks so much.

The second lesson is slowly coming into focus — the only solution to an insane bureaucracy is an excellent lawyer. It's unfortunate and it's a solution that is out of the question to those who can't afford the retainer fee.

Well, Jonah is better. The computer geniuses are dealing with my sad Mac. A new-used Subaru station wagon, the official state car of Vermont and the liberal car of choice, is sitting in our driveway. Mrs. Lawyer will be getting a retainer fee on Wednesday. A new bathroom is being installed next week. A flurry of house hunting occurred today. There is still much chaos around here, but it is happy, hopeful chaos.

One important part of returning to normal is returning to the blog. I can't quit you, blog! So, I'm back somewhat. The kids are home this week, and we're planning on spending the day at the Museum of Natural History tomorrow, so I'll be slow, but around.

Thanks again, everyone.