Day 426, 3000 Miles From Home

I came I in to work this morning, andg stepping out of my car I took a deep breath, like I always do. Only this time it didn't smell like farmland: the breeze was blowing from a different direction. It smelled fresh, rosy pinkness. Looking at the eastern sky from whence the fragrant breezes came, I saw the rose and gold freshness that it carried to me. A little distance away, on the lawn next the road, was a flowering Magnolia tree, dropping its white-pink petals on the grass beneath it. Behind the Magnolia was a row of young cedars, and a little to the right, a grove of magnificent pines, all hemming in the green lawn with its solitary tree laying down its blanket of rosy sweetness.
For a moment I was taken home on the breezes blowing west.
It was beautifully chilling and breathtaking and heart-breaking all at the same time.
Now it is raining, and the gold has gone, but the freshness and the essence of Oregon are stronger than ever. And I ache to be home again.

Home

Day 441. Farewell My Faithful Friend.

Hello Dear Friends,
I thought it would be easy to write this. It was easy to think it up. And I wrote it out in preparation. But after the fact, I read it over and it was just all wrong.
I've had many sad and horrible things happen in my life, but Monday was truly the worst day ever.
Some of you know or have heard of our dog Willy. He has been "The Pet" for the past 12 years, and we have all grown to love him so very much. When I was just a little girl we had a cat I loved...but that was childish affection, not understanding. Willy was a part of our family. He could make us laugh, or just be there when there was no other shoulder to cry on. We could bury our faces in his soft fur and he'd be totally fine with that. His big brown puppy eyes always knew when something was wrong, and he'd sympathetically lick our noses or our hands just to let us know everything was ok, and he was there for us. He responded to our joy with little wiggles of excitement and happy little dog barks.
We used to call him "Willy of the Mile-Long Tongue" because when he got excited he would jump on our lap and no matter how we tried to escape he would lick us wherever his tongue would reach.
The sad part of this remembrance is: for the last couple years he'd been sick, and getting worse. We tried many different things, but while they would help for a little while, in the end there was more digression than improvement; and finally, on Sunday, we knew it was time to let him go when he refused to eat a thing, and randomly threw up several times for no reason.
We knew he'd been suffering, so we tried to make life easier for him, but he'd whimper every time he got up, he never took more than a few tiny steps at a time.
He was afflicted with arthritis and Lymes Disease, and putting both such things in such a tiny package must have been terrible for him.
On Monday we cherished him with tears and every ounce of affection we could pour into him, and then in the evening we took him to our vet's house and mercifully put an end to his sufferings. The whole day, before we went, and even in the car on the trip, he was his sympathetic, cuddly, adorable puppy self, and he tried so very hard to let us know everything was ok, but without understanding why everything was so all wrong.
At the very last he never showed on ounce of hate or anger, except when he was given the anesthetic. The needle hurt him painfully, and he cried for a few seconds. But then he watched Mama with puppy worship in his eyes until he fell asleep. After that the drug was adminstered and a few minutes later he was gone.
Now it is like there is a black hole in our home. Little bundles of shadows, or something dark lying on the floor, I'll think it's him and turn to greet him, but in reality it's just a black shoe, or someone's sweater that fell off the back of the chair.
Mama left for work early this morning, and normally when she does that she leaves Willy still sleeping, with her bedroom door closed so the cats don't bother him, so when I get up I let him out of her room and take him downstairs. But today I moved to open her door when it hit me that he wasn't there.
My heart sank to my shoes. If this is what losing a pet feels like, I don't ever want to feel the loss of a family member or friend.

All dogs go to heaven, right?

Day 448, and a picture.

Greetings and a pleasant morning to you, neighbors.
Christy did take a picture for me of Eve doing her presentation, and as promised, here it is. I'm sad that you can't properly see the whole thing, but it's cute anyways. The best part is Eve looks perfectly confident and unafraid.
This girl is a marvel.
She has 2 cats named Clementine and KC, and almost every time I go to babysit her and her siblings she regales me with a new "Tales of Clementine and KC" which she made up on the spot, and more often than not I'm laughing my head off! I've never known a smarter girl of only 9 years old.
So! As time passes and I babysit more for them I'll see if I can't get a better picture.
Thanks for reading!
-me

Day 449. Pictures coming soon.

Well I got the dress done. I don't have a picture of the finished product, or of any more of the work in between, because my photographer was busy elsewhere. I took the dress to Eve and her mother last night, and Christy promised to take a picture and send it to me when Eve does her presentation. When that happens I will be sure to post a picture promptly!
As of right now Jeremy and I are at the bank, and we're putting my name on his account. I think in a previous post I mentioned Jeremy opening the account and I'd forgotten my ID; well, I remembered it this time.
After this we're heading to the car repair shop to pick up the minivan, which we just had inspected yesterday. You know it's mildly nerve-wracking to drive a vehicle whose inspection has been expired for 3 months. Haha. Every time a cop comes in sight you check everything just to make sure you're doing everything right, even though you know you haven't done anything wrong ever since you found out about the expiration, and you get tense and try not to look at the cop lest he thinks you look guilty, and you pray with all your heart the something hasn't randomly gone wrong that you can't see but the cop can.
Haha, that's what you do when you can't afford the repairs to a very well-used vehicle in order for it pass inspection.

Oh by the way, I just changed my phone over from my equally well-used Blackberry to Mama's old, 1st generation Android, and I just installed the blogger app, so I can take it with me everywhere. It's super cool having a touch-screen phone with the slide-out keyboard as well.

Anyways. Must be going now!
Thanks for readink!
Xoxo-me