One of my favorite quotations is, “Only connect”, which E.M. Forster included as an epigraph at the end of his novel Howard’s End. Ever since working as a Speech-Language Pathologist, I have believed the importance of being able to communicate, whether via words, American Sign Language, or a speech output device, cannot almost not be overstated. It’s one of the basic ways we connect.

In late September, my mother was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (cancer) on the language center of her brain. We don’t know how many weeks she has left. I haven’t had time to keep up my blog because I’ve been spending quality time with my folks. My mom’s ability to talk is disappearing. It’s like someone takes the words of her sentences and shakes them up in a bag. Oh, and steals some words from the bag, and changes some words in the bag, and throws in a couple words that have no business being there. Then they dump out the bag and that’s what comes out of her mouth. It’s very hard. If you are reading this blog, I know like me, you value words. Words are precious. My mom’s words are mixed up, but I can tell if she’s making a joke, complaining, or telling me how much she appreciate me. I am savoring the words my mom has left. She also says a lot with her sweet smile.

I hope to polish up some posts I have had in my back pocket and publish them soon.  I am committed to providing more reviews of fabulous time travel books, so I will be back when I can.