This is a very hard letter to write. The decision that led to it has been many weeks in the making so please understand that I do not do this lightly, nor in haste. I will not be able to actively participate on the FML for an unknown period of time. I must also suspend publication of the PML for a similar period; and -this hurts the most- I will be unable to respond to many of the wonderful letters that you are kind enough to send us. I will, however, continue to correspond with a few folks with whom I have developed a special relationship. I cannot forget those with whom I have formed a deep and close bond nor those who have a special need of what I humbly offer them. The reasons I make this decision are many. Before I go into them, I will briefly descibe the history of Paw Paw on the FML, in case some of you new folks are wondering who the heck I am and why I am writing this. Last September, Tater came to live with Mee Maw and me. Shortly thereafter, we subscibed to the Net and discovered this wonderful list. I jumped right in and began sharing Tater's adventures as well as my own special brand of craziness and views of how the world ought to be. To my utter amazement, folks started writing back to me. I kept writing more letters and even more folks wrote to me. To make a very long story as short as possible, I received almost 200 letters in one 3 day period. 99 and 44/100 percent of them were nice letters. There were a few 'flames' but I quickly got over them and learned to ingore them, with the help of so many friends. In an attempt to keep up with all of this nice mail, I started the PML - The Paw Paw and Tater Mailing list. This eventually became the Paw Paw, Tater and Odie mailing list because 'ferret math' done struck at my house. Enough background - on to the WHY of my decision. I make my living as an electrician. (Iv'e done other things including being a minister and being an announcer on a classical radio station.) Electrical work is something that I dearly love to do. I'm pretty good at it and it has been very kind to me for many years. It is, however, a very physically demanding job. No, I'm not a Union man - I work for a living. I am now much closer to retirement age than I would care to be. My body is starting to tell me that I cannot continue to do the things I am used to doing. With this in mind, I have turned to something that has always brought me great pleasure - the writing of stories and poems. It is in this direction that I am now directing my energies. Heck, I'm even good at it. The reason I am retiring from active particiapation on the FML is that I have have become so caught up in its good spirit and many friends that I have been neglecting my writing, with which I hope to support Mee Maw, Tater, Odie and myself in years to come. I'm an old fashioned fert and feel that I owe a personal reply to everyone who writes a nice letter to me. The end result has been that I spend all of my free time trying to keep up with the FML, PML and personal letters. I started a story at the beginning of January and have not written a single word of it since. This is not a good thing since I hope to keep us out of the poorhouse with my writing when the ol' body is too tired to do 'lectric work for 10-12 hours a day. It is for this reason that I must go away for a time. I will miss each and every one of you. I will continue to read and enjoy the FML every day and care about evreything that happens to you and your 'special gifts from God'. I suppose that, in Internet terms, I shall be a 'Lurker' for a time. I shall 'Delurk' as soon as I can. Thank you for all the love and kind thoughts you have sent this way. They will not be forgotten. I SHALL return - let that be a warning to you. With much love and humble thanks. I remain, your silent friend, Paw Paw (Michael J. Schieman - coming soon to a bookstore near you) [Moderator's note: I think many of us will really miss your wonderful stories. But a warning to you too: We'll be waiting! BIG] [Posted in FML issue 1541]