jenni

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I love cold weather and snow, up to the point where it turns dangerous.

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I would spend as much time as possible with the people I love and tell them how much they mean to me. I'd go to Canada and see a couple of my friends there. I'd also want to focus my energy on things that would remain after I was gone, like finishing my family video projects.

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So Benjamin has made an appearance back in the story? LOL This should be interesting. I'm so glad Matt is doing better. Now that he's more alert I'm sure it's driving him a little crazy that he's still stuck in bed. Hopefully he'll be able to get back to school and into life. So far Wade and Matt have pretty much shared friends, but now Wade's making friends on his own and I wonder how Matt will feel about that. Thanks for the early Christmas present, Mark!

Merry Christmas, Mark. Thank you for taking so much of your free time during the past year to write such wonderful stories for us that keep us all begging for more updates, faster! Even if we get a bit impatient sometimes, it's only because we enjoy your stories so much. Happy holidays to all!

I agree with you on #1, but sorry, I have to agree with Mark on #2. At least here in the midwest USA, those would not be worn by a straight guy. My husband doesn't wear any kind of flip-flops or slip-on shoes without socks out in public (only just like out to grab the newspaper or something) so I don't have any suggestions. He wears tennis shoes, usually Nike.

I already knew that the love between Matt and Wade was great, but I was struck in this chapter by Wade's devotion to Matt. It's wonderful how he stays with Matt, just because he knows Matt wants to see him there. It's a heavy burden for an 18/19 year old guy but Wade bears it well. I thought about what I was like at that age and there's no way I could have handled a similar situation as well as Wade has. He's just amazing. I was also thrilled that Matt's parents saw the light, so to speak, and are ready to accept Matt and act like real parents again. It's a shame that they had to face the possibility of losing Matt to open their minds and hearts, but I guess late is better than never.

I think so too. Wade's mom had the opportunity because she visited them not long before Matt got sick. She also acted strange because she seemed to think Matt was the dirt under her feet when she arrived but then was kind of nice to him by the time she left, which probably means she was up to something. Plus, with Wade's father being a senator he probably as the power and money to have access to rare, possibly even military type, poisons. I don't think the Senator just planned to let Matt and Wade continue to hold something over his head.

LOL well I have a few friends in Canada, but they are all female and definitely not named Mark. Hope it didn't seem like I was attacking you personally because that's not what I intended to do. I enjoy reading your posts, but I was just disagreeing on that one point.

I couldn't agree more. With all due respect to Mark M, I really don't want to read long descriptions of a hospital room. But this chapter dealt with the frustration everyone was going through trying to figure out what was going on with Matt. It's angst, it's plot, it's the heart of any well-written story. It drives us crazy sometimes, but without it the story would be bland. Yes, I got frustrated with the fact that Jack couldn't tell Matt what was going on, but that was the whole point. The fact that we care is a sign of how well-written the story is.