Just checked back here to see if maybe you had come back to edit your "placeholder" post like you said you would instead of adding a new post which would have tipped us off to the fact that you'd come back. Glad I did.
Don't have much else to add, but I did want to comment on this:
I’m going to try to do your comments justice. I really am. Though I’m still a bit tongue-tied and overwhelmed, in the nicest possible way.
The response to this story was so far above what I expected. I am deeply grateful and... some other things I just can’t think how to say.
Well, good. Now you know how we've been feeling for the last month or two.
Paul