To wit: You are still here.

Hi, S_M!

You have survived surgery as well as all the charming little strep and staph bacteria lurking in the corners of modern hospitals. And hospital food. ;) You are a hardy soul.

I'm sorry I missed your illness. Please accept my belated wishes for your recovery. If you're already all healed up, save it to apply to some future serious owwie. :)

If you had lived in an earlier time, you could have been thrown from your horse and killed, or mauled to death by a bear, or died of smallpox. We have all been lucky because of modern civilization. Few of us have had the opportunity to reflect on it from the viewpoint of an emergency procedure the way you have.

Women don't hate you. They just don't know what to make of you. This happens to a lot of engineers, which is what you are whether you have the paper to back it up or not. Is there any place frequented by women near where you live to which you could go that has the potential for showing off your many talents? Volunteer work, even a couple of hours a week, gives you something else to talk about besides the topics that haven't gotten you much play recently. Did I hear someone mention the library? ;)

Been to any flower shows recently? Spring is coming. You don't have to be a pansy to appreciate a rose. And how interesting it can be to discuss the beauty of flowers from the standpoint of functional biology! The sparkling droplets of water on an unopened red tulip blossom... the lithe delicacy of crowds of paperwhite narcissus... the robust luxurience of plump pink peonies... and the jump from there to her sparkling eyes...

You can do this.

You don't suck. You are a work of art. You haven't found the proper lighting to display yourself yet. Please keep moving the fixtures around, and find new gallery space if you have to. That blue-filtered spotlight only defines you if you let it.

Best wishes--
Mary Anne