When I got home from my usual Friday get-together (man, the wind made it feel cold!) I had an answering machine message from my mom. She's back home for the weekend, but will be going back to my aunt in Vermont early next week.

My 35th birthday is this coming Tuesday - but it doesn't matter.

By the end of this month, I'll be moved to a new apartment. I'm still nowhere near done packing, I still don't know when we'll do the move - but that too doesn't matter.

What matters is that my uncle is in ICU there, with about 10% heart function, his best hope right now being a heart transplant -- and with the long wait on the waiting lists, that is a faint hope right now.

I've heard stories of miracles before, and I hope there's one here too...