Another big time jump (time travel, am I right?). Mom and her guy get arrested and there’s LOTS of relationship stress. Christmas wasn’t good due to the charges against her guy but she was looking forward to getting her settlement from that bike accident. And, of course, there’s more dreaming about the Patent. Phill was snowed into Portland over New Year and Mat and Rachel head to NYC. Moms legal stresses just don’t seem to end but she was testing with the carpenter’s union for an apprenticeship.

There are some big time gaps in this one. The state job ends which pushes Mom to move forward on the Patent filing, which leads to talking about big dreams. She meets a new guy and Phill gets married. Then Mom pulls the trigger and makes her big move to Vegas. This leads to job interviews, work at a dive bar, a bad relationship and a motorcycle accident.

There were some big gaps between entries on this one. Mom was able to take that postponed trip to Mexico. Mat got a job in Portland and eventually he and Rachel move North. 9/11/2001. This caused a lot of stress for Phill because he was a security officer at a chemical weapons base but was still waiting for his Honorable Discharge or orders back to Active Duty from the Marines. There was also a new man in the picture and a relationship that was going good comes to an end. Mom was applying for new jobs and also looked into doing nails for some extra money. Phill makes a big announcement. Then Mathew and he have their 4th and 27th birthdays, respectively.

There was a new man to talk about. Mom also got some sad family news. Mom and Phill both have medical procedures, Phill uses that sick leave to take a small vacation with the kids. Another round of our favorite game of “Ha! What money?” was being played. Mat moved to Portland and tells the story of how that played out and how he eventually moved in with Mom.