A COUPLE OF DISJOINTED THOUGHTS BEFORE I START

Hi there.  I'm going to run around the rosie a little bit before I get to do what I promised.
1. My brother-in-law for whom you have all been praying because he was under the knife for open-heart surgery is doing quite well.  It has been about 48 hours since the surgery ended and he is amazingly spry.  Of course, he is also in pain.  It hurts when he laughs, of course.  It also hurts when he isn't laughing.  I suppose that is a normal consequence to getting your breast bone sawed in half -- lengthwise.  Thank you for your prayers.  
2. The hospital that he is in is more like the Taj Mahal than a hospital.  One person per room, even those "poor" people whose lives are being saved even though they have no financial resources.  Wives and children have what they need to be comfortable as well.  Coffee, microwave ovens, comfortable cots/couches in the room for overnight stays, refrigerator and even wireless internet access on special PC's in comfortable nooks.
3. The hospital personnel, medical and housekeeping are polite and respectful to the point that it makes you think that you are in a monastery.  
4. Sister-in-law and I spent about 45 minutes in the room in ICU last night.  The head nurse stayed with us for about 20 minutes explaining the different bodily functions that were being monitored right before our eyes.  He told us that Carlos had eaten and had been asking for us.  We were both rather surprised that he was able to be so "together" after the traumatic day that he had lived.  We did leave though after about 45 minutes and decided that we would return in the morning.
5. Son Jo-El was waiting for us to test our opinions about whether or not he should run to the San Francisco Bay Area to take a job that his friend told him he could have just for showing up.  It so happens that we know the friend and we know Jo-El.  He wanted to go because he is fed-up with hand to mouth existence with one security guard job after another. So we joined our hearts to his and bade him God speed.  We sent him off with our blessings and all three of us had wet eyes for the occasion.   I have written about the deep love and caring that these two boys, Jo-El and Marc, have.  Jo-El was torn down the middle with the prospect of leaving his aunt and uncle while they are going to have to recuperate from the open-heart surgery experience.  We and his aunt assured him that his efforts to make his life better are also important and that we would all be OK.  
That is the San Diego Ramble.  I'll close this now, take care of some personal stuff and come back to tell you the story of the person who came back into my life...and some thoughts about old cars too.