I'm incredibly tired right now, so I figured I'd mention this before I headed off to sleep. I spent most of the night on the instant messenger with my wife in the US and my son and his wife in Germany. I spent most of the morning running around town and taking care of business.

My daughter-in-law, Diann, announced that she's pregnant and that the baby's due in September. That means I'm going to be a grandfather! God, I suddenly feel really, really old (and I'm only 47).

I may have mentioned this before, but I have CRS disease and I don't want to dig through the archives to check. My son didn't start talking until he was five years old. When he entered the first grade of school, he was having problems so we had him checked out completely. We checked his vision, his hearing and other things I don't remember. We then had him mentally evaluated. He was diagnosed with a "learning disability". This used to be referred to as "retarded" but that was never an accurate description or reason for learning disabilities. All through his early years of school, he had special classes because it wasn't that he couldn't learn, it was that he learned differently. Gradually, the special classes were phased out as he caught up with his peers when he was in high school. Now, he's passing college courses. Special education wasn't the only contributing factor to his success. His loving parents had a lot to do with it.

Since Jonathan graduated from high school, he talks to me every single day, sometimes for hours. I think he's making up for all the years where he didn't talk at all or very much. So… we started out not being able to get him to talk and now I can't get him to shut up. If you wonder sometimes why my articles are delayed, this is one of the reasons. It's not a bad thing, of course, but it disrupts other things that I need to get done. If he wasn't going to college during the day now, I wouldn't have any time to think.

From one extreme to another, that's the story of my life so far.

This article is more than just an update. It's also a bit of a follow-up to Scott's article, Religion – Who Needs it? I have no motives behind writing it this way; I have nothing to hide.

Yesterday morning (locally), I prayed a little to the creator of all things. I was in pain and suffering tremendously. My lower left leg was almost double the size of my lower right leg. I received answers about my situation and it was all fetched from my own memories and knowledge. Religion does not teach us how to pray or how to understand the answers when we ask questions. I have had great success in my personal life since I cut out the middlemen.

Since my wife departed on the 20th of May, my son had behaved as if she never left. We used to call him Prince Jon because he always expected to be cared for and fed and such and would only do his part when forced to do so. Even if I asked, he wouldn't do something as simple as washing dishes (unless I later told him, not giving him a choice). God put the hurt on me on June 10th in order to teach him selflessness. That was the sole purpose.

Since that day, Jon has cooked and cleaned and tended to my care — until yesterday when he started his first day of his second year of college. When he arrived home, there was one thing I had to have him do and it was part of the reason the swelling didn't start going down immediately. God's purpose was served, but I wasn't prepared for recovery.

Remembering a lesson from a biochemist I knew back in the 90s (and not Scott), your body requires certain compounds for tissue regeneration. Protein, water, and sugar are three that I can remember offhand. Sugar! I had no sugar content in my food or drink since getting ill. I had only been drinking water for more than a week and a minimal amount of food and no fruit.

I had Jon make me a glass of sweetened iced tea. Just one. When I awoke this morning, both he and I were amazed that the swelling had gone down considerably, more than halfway. I will be drinking another glass this evening, after he returns home from school.

You may have heard the phrase that says, "God works in mysterious ways." It's not mysterious at all once you keep religion out of the picture.