wow, John - Slow Turning and Big Horizons, took em right outta my fingers.

Kelly, i so hope that faith in a better future carries the day for you and yours in need. it can be so hard to see sometimes, but dawn can follow darkness just as easily as the converse. once one accepts that one's life is (currently) pure shit, the rest is just perseverance and the long slog back to light. keep her hanging in as best you can, and with the wisdom you've already shown i know that you are one of the best people for her to have around. it doesn't guarantee success but it's all we can do and the important thing is to do it...which you are.

and maybe give her Patty Griffin's Living With Ghosts album - besides the below (Mad Mission) it also has You Are Not Alone...and others equally beautiful.

we were drinking like the Irish

we were drinking scotch

bartender puts on a movie

everybody turns to watch

and every single eye was gleaming

when we reached the final scene

well, at least mine did

here's looking at you kid

i think i've seen the look before

yeah it's kinda non-committal

he says come hither baby

but then he's hard wood to whittle

says it don't mean a thing

but still somehow it does

he'd like you to join the club that likes to say

there's no such thing as love

sometimes you find yourself

flying low at night

flying blind and loooking for

any sign of light

you're cold and scared

and all alone

you'd do anything

just to make it home

you know it's a mad mission

under difficult conditions

not everybody makes it

to the loving cup

it's a mad mission

but i got the ambition

for a mad mad mission

sign me up