Greetings, all... It's been a really long while since I've come by for a visit or chat, but I have updated my profile and have made some major changes in my life. The day before Thanksgiving, I lost my light, my world and my life...my Familiar, Wah Lum Princess Little Tail. She was everything to me and I had no clue just how much her death would affect me. My husband and son took me out for Thanksgiving lunch but I didn't feel as if I had much to be thankful for. My baby was eight years old, and her illness came on suddenly and caused her demise just as quickly. Maybe that was for the better, that I lose her quickly, rather than her languish and suffer...but being a selfish human, I was nowhere near ready (I don't think I would have ever been) to let her go. I am coping better and the kindness people have shown me has been unbelievable and touching...from the old man at the flea market who - when I paused...just paused - to look at a small cat statue, told me to put it in my bag and take it home to the friend of my husband's who, when he visited his pawn shop and saw a cat ring and remarked how much it looked "like my wife's favorite cat that she just lost" he picked it up, handed it to hubs and told him to bring it to me. The people who have offered loving words, the calls...it has all been overwhelming and looking back now, I realize that the things I once thought were so important, in the grand scheme of things, mean absolutely nothing. With that said, I have changed my life path. I have put my writing on the back burner (I am still writing, have a book due out in January, book 2 of my Vampire series, but it no longer rules my life as it once did) and have thrown myself completely into my Country Folk Witchery, starting an Etsy shop and even a magazine for the pursuit of more simpler and primitive ways of life. It's just a shame that it took me losing my baby to make this change, but she is with me every step of the way, I'll be planting a memorial garden for her, come spring and I plan to live as simply, stress free and as happily from now on...as possible.