life as a dog…

I’ve waited on making this post, and I find it difficult to write. I’m not really sure what I should write.

It’s been a tough week. Not so much a tough week for me, but for L. Last week, a little whippet made her final journey.

I only knew little Wonton for about 8 months of her 13 years. Not nearly enough to know all about her. I didn’t know her soon enough to see her running at full whippet speed. Not soon enough to see her play with Emmit and her toys or bark at the neighborhood dogs as they passed the window. I would have loved to have been there for those things. I do get to hear the stories, though. Judging by those stories, she had about as good a life as any whippet could have. She had her person who would do anything for her…anything.

I’ve tried to do what I could, and I’m sure it’s not been enough. But I know that there’s probably nothing anyone can do to fully make things better. And it just kills me to see L hurt so much. But hopefully there’s some comfort knowing Whonnie had all she ever needed.

I’ve seen a couple people post screen captures of news “headlines” and what a joke they can be. So I figured it was my turn.

Look closely at these headlines. All newsworthy…except one.

WHO THE HELL CARES HOW RICHARD HATCH IS COPING???

So the long weekend is over. Wednesday, we headed out – on US 40. I wanted to drive the trip off the freeway. You definitely get to see some cool stuff on the small highways. We made it to Springfield, Ohio before stopping for the night. We probably could have made it…but the plan was to stop on the way. The rain was getting a bit out of hand anyway. Thursday we arrived in Richmond and went to Centerville. It’s amazing how much cheaper antiques are in the midwest compared to out here. I was wondering if Antiques Roadshow would have put a stop to that…it didn’t. Stuff was a good 1/3 to 1/2 cheaper. Didn’t get anything, but it was enjoyable just to window shop (no pun intended, stained-glass yearner!). Later on Thursday we went to my sister’s new house. Jealous would be an understatement. A nice little bungalow in very nice shape. And she got it for probably a tenth of what it would cost out here. Grrr. Spent the rest of the time driving around areas I hadn’t been to in years. People don’t realize what jewels they have in houses out there. So many old houses, so many in really bad shape.

Friday was the first reunion event. Just a casual get together. Saturday was the same – just a casual get together.

The best single word to describe it…surreal. It turned out to be a pretty good time. I got to see people I hadn’t seen in two decades, found out that one of my friends who I had lost touch with only lives about 5 miles from where I work, caught up with others. Going into this thing, I thought I’d be able to recognize most of the people. Wow, was I wrong. We had all the expected things – people who look nearly identical to what they did in high school, people who took a definite turn for the worse, and people who took a definite turn for the better.

I was a bit nervous going in, wondering if I’d really have anything to say to a lot of people. But it went just like it probably goes for everyone – being able to pick up pretty much right where we left off 20 years ago. Even for people I didn’t really know that well.

Sunday was the drive back. The “I don’t want to go back” drive back. It may be a small minimum wage town, but I still like it.