Thank you all for the outpouring of support yesterday!

[H2O Man]

10. Recommended.

I had to look for your post from yesterday, after reading this. I had company from out of state ..... one of very few members of a large, extended family that is a republican. My father was one of 14 siblings, and there are only two of my generation of siblings & cousins who is not a Democrat. Now I still love this one, and recognize that she is not among the smartest people in the family. But if I wasn't dealing with her for two days, I would surely have responded to your post yesterday, because you are definitely one of my very favorite members of this community.

After reading yesterday's post -- which, by the way, I found about an hour after talking to my son about depression being experienced by a person we know -- I decided to walk out to my garden before responding. Here in upstate New York, the air quality is not good, due to smoke from the fires in Canada. I could see and smell the haze on my first step out of the door. As I got closer to my garden, that smell was replaced by that of a row of rose bushes that are blooming.

As I got to the roses, I was mighty impressed with the number of beautiful flowers. Now, it still bugs me that I can't spend the time I want to outside, even as old and pathetic as I am, because of the air quality. But I did recognize that the saying from my youth in the 1960's was correct: you've got to stop, and smell the roses. (It was a variation of a phrase in some golfer's autobiography.) Indeed, I try to do that even on DU ..... and in that context, my Wonderful Friend, you are one of the best roses on this forum!