Thanks for them nice words there, Gary. :) I had struggled with the topic this week a lot, and I think I ended up doing that "and so this week we were told to write about..." thing in an almost ironic way -- like "man, this topic fought me every step of the way!" Heh. Anyway, I'm glad that you felt I pulled it out, and I had to go home one of these weeks -- so going home this far into the competition and with a note from you saying you liked this week's entry is feeling pretty good, I will say. :)