Hello again. It's about a week after Liz's Big Day and it still feels a bit unreal. Here I thought the ceremony would be tough to survive but I was wrong. Jim's latest heart attack and our reaction to it caused a bigger crisis than pre-wedding jitters. Now, in my defense, I thought that the doctors at the ICU were downplaying how badly off Jim was until they could be sure that Iris would be able to handle the news of Jim's imminent death. Pessimism seems like a rotten excuse in retrospect but we both know that it would no immediate good for anyone to rush to the hospital only to be greeted with the worst news you can get. I thought that Elly was on the same page but looking in her eyes, I could tell she believed every optimistic word Iris said. Fortunately, Anthony was there to set me straight. Y'see, one of the gang down at the cardiac care unit is one of his fellow stargazers and she gave him what April would call the 411 and what I call the straight dope. I gotta tell you, explaining what happened to everyone else made me feel like a dope. It bothered me a lot that nobody was as upset as they should have been. It was almost as if they expected this to happen. Anyway, after everyone was reassured that he'd be able to take visitors, I got to thinking about the future. I know that one day, I'll fully retire and Elly and I will be able to travel more but what of everyone else? Mike and Deanna may say they want to stay in Milborough but they probably won't. Watching Mike and Dee talk about Colorado makes it certain that they'll eventually leave for greener pastures. I knew something was fishy when she made that joke about opening up a sewing school. It's almost as dumb an idea as Anthony's not-so-funny remark about running a B-and-B someday. I remember saying the same thing about raising chickens when I was starting out so that sort of guff cannot be taken at face value. April's home probably isn't going to be Milborough much longer either. You see, there's a huge demand for large animal vets in Alberta and I wouldn't be surprised if she helped fill it. That leaves Liz, Anthony, Francoise and whatever future Caines may be for Elly to help out. Ah, well. They can't stay home forever. In any event, I have it easy; Anthony has taken it upon himself to make Liz see past her hatred of Therese. This is doomed to failure because of the plain and simple fact that some people were born to hate others. Liz, for whatever reason, cannot stand Therese and vice versa and there's no solution.
Anyway, it's my turn to drive April up to the hospital so I have to cut this short. I'll see you when I see you.
Yours,
John.