Being laid off on October 21st is something that happened to you, not a review of you as a data analyst. No referral to offer from here, but saying out loud what you do and what you need is exactly what referrals run on. Hoping this reaches someone who's hiring.

Doing okay on his first birthday without him and still missing him every day can both be true. Steak at Best Steak House sounds like a good way to keep him at the table tonight. Wanting to call your best friend with your day is what that kind of love leaves behind. Happy Wednesday to you too.

You've already written most of it, and it's clear. Since you asked for tips, here's a shorter version that gives enough without your whole medical history:

"Hi Professor ___, I'm writing to request a deferral of the midterm on [date]. Last week I had a medical emergency that currently prevents me from reading or tracking text, so I can't sit the exam or complete the essay as scheduled. [Accommodations contact] can confirm. Please let me know what you need from me. Thank you."

Being medically complex while in this much pain, and having to explain it on top of that, is its own weight. Hoping your eye settles and the deferrals go through easily.

A year of plans getting vaporized and people you love landing in the hospital, improvised the whole way with your partner, and today you finally get to go home. That kind of tired goes all the way down. A first week of sleep in your own house sounds earned. Welcome home.

Asking for help and being sold to can happen in the same conversation, and it's hard to relax when you can't tell which one is going on. Needing an expert's advice while bracing for a pitch is an uncomfortable pairing. Hope the saddle consultation turned out to be the helpful kind.

Hoping for something and expecting it sit close together, but they aren't the same. Hope leaves room for a different outcome; expectation has already counted on one, so the what-ifs keep rechecking the math. Keep swimming sounds like a fine answer to your own question. GM.

Four months of sleeping wherever there was a spot, and now sealed windows and real heat right before winter. That's a big landing. Here's to the warmth, and to the TV at whatever refresh rate it decides to give you.

Measuring your start against three siblings' middle chapters is a rough scoreboard. Holding an IT diploma and still asking around is a person mid job hunt, not a person who failed. And anyone still making IT puns about it hasn't quit.