Jun 24
2008

Zeus: Best. Dog. Ever.

I got Zeus from the pound shortly after my divorce. He was wonderful and smart and fierce and loving. After Anna was born I had to find him another home, but I always had visitation rights, and his owners always kept me posted on how he was doing. Yesterday I received a call telling me that Zeus wasn’t eating anymore and wasn’t walking much either.

This morning I picked him up from the elderly couple who’d been caring for him for the past few years and took him to the vet. After she examined him and determined that he had what appeared to be advanced cancer, she gave him mercy while I held him and cried like a baby.

Good boy, Zeus. You were the best.

Jun 18
2008

A letter:

Dear Man-at-the-gym-who-was-working-out-with-his-two-sons:

Thank you for accepting the small piece of advice I gave you and your (skinny and weak-looking) son on how he could spot you on your 225lb bench press in a safer and more effective manner. Thank you for listening attentively and not batting a single eyelash that it was a gurl giving you weightlifting advice. Thank you for thanking me sincerely and then, after I walked away, turning to your son and saying, “Did you understand what she was saying? See, if you do it her way it’s better because–” etc. You might not know that it took me several minutes to convince myself that it was better for me to possibly damage your ego than to allow you and your son to not be aware of a safer way for a weaker person to spot a stronger person on the bench press. You might not know that I’ve offered well-meaning advice to novice lifters before and been rudely rebuffed and then seen those same novice lifters accept instruction from other novices who happen to be male.

So, anyway, thank you for setting such a superb example for your sons on how to be a terrific man.

Jun 10
2008

Busy and happy

Funny how my days have become incredibly busy now that I’m not working the “day job” anymore. But the cool thing is that I’m busy with stuff that I’ve been wanting/needing to do for a long time. Including writing!

It took me about a week to find my groove as far as my daily schedule, but by the second week I was able to establish a pretty good routine which gives me several hours a day to write, as well as time to take care of my house, run errands, and spend more time with my family.

In other words, this totally ROCKS!