To all members of House Manticore and a few of you most especially!

I just spent like an hour looking thru old photos, reliving past glories, remembering great times,and the feeling of family that you all share. I miss it, and all of you so very much!! I have been away so very long from the house and the legion, from fighting in general. Very rarely in life do you come across a group of individuals from varied backgrounds, locations, and personalities that embody the meaning of the word family the way that you all do! Never in my life has anyone made me feel more accepted and appreciated than I felt when I was among your ranks, on and off the field of battle. Some of you are still what I consider to be the greatest friends that I have EVER made and for those of you who really know me you know this is not something that I say lightly! To you all I say "To Hell and back together, brother(or sister as the case may be)! To those of you who I don't know yet, I will meet you all soon and that's a promise!

On a slightly less sentimental note: To those of you in Carbondale, I am decidedly closer to you all now!! I plan on making a few trips down your way as soon as my schedule allows and I cannot wait to see you all, hug those of you that I know and meet those of you I don't(epic fail on the less sentimental statement!!)

Shamus O'Toole
Matt

I can't wait to meet you, too! I keep hearing stories about this Shamus dood and wondering where he disappeared to. I'm glad you're coming back to the fold. You have definitely been missed.

Well, if those stories involve 1)Boone's Farm 2)The coldest bottle of Jagermeister known to man 3)The phrase "Damn you Shamus" unfortunately they are probably all too true! In my defense though: 1)Boone's Farm is cheap,tasty, and quite possibly the worst hangover you will ever have. I never made anyone drink it! Only twisted their are till they gave up and imbibed of their own free will. 2) That Bottle was COLD! nuff said and finally 3) Eh? I got no defense for this statement.

Hey Shamus, good to hear from you, and anytime you can your always welcome at the BBQs. but we wont be making it back to Carbondale for awhile (our average is something like every 4 yrs or so).

Missed you.

Bean Si, Thank you! I am planning on hitting Bloomington at least a few times this summer as well so I hope that I can run into you and Cirion sometime when I am out that way I will let you know when I am heading out that way I've missed you all!!

We would love to see you. Just give a shout when your in the neighborhood.