So many things have happened since the last entry, I can scarcely think where to begin! I guess I’ll just start with the simplest thing – Jennie and I are engaged! I proposed (sort of in the middle of a fight), on Wednesday night. It was really strange, actually. I had just decided all of a sudden that I wanted to marry her, and I was going to wait until morning, but I just couldn’t hold it in!

We’re both very excited – I wanted to write here immediately, but I needed to wait until we had told our parents. All four of them are very happy for us. I realize that it’s not the greatest timing – after all, I still don’t have a new job, which makes setting a budget difficult. All the same, we have plenty of time. We are planning on May or June 2003 for the wedding, after Jennie finishes college.

I was hoping to make a trip out to Oklahoma this weekend, but I have decided I’d better stay home. My grandfather is not doing well. He was supposed to come home today from the hospital, where he’s been on the verge of kidney failure. However, he’s coming home to hospice care, where he won’t be forcibly hydrated, so kidney failure is nearly a certainty in the very near future. He’s in a lot of pain (they’re putting him on a morphine drip) and he’s been very depressed, so I hope for his sake that his remaining time is short. At any rate, I’ll need to be ready for a trip to Durango for the funeral if and when he goes, so going all the way out to Norman isn’t such a great idea right now.