It’s Been a While . . .

Good gracious, I can’t believe I haven’t written in OD for three months! It’s not that I’m so busy, but I don’t allow myself time to write and I get distracted by other stuff. When I finally have a chance to sit down, I just don’t feel like writing or I don’t think I have anything to write about.

But September 1 is kind of like January 1, because it represents the end of summer, and fall is always a good time to try to correct the lazy and slow habits of summer. So I’m making a vow to myself to make time to write. It’s very satisfying spiritually to me to put my thoughts and my activities in writing. It’s like writing air and the words are swallowed and kept forever.

My life has not changed much in three months. I’m still employed. After years of wandering the career wilderness, I finally, by sheer luck found a place where I feel happy and productive. I have all the benefits of a full time employee again. I love having those benefits wrapped around me like a big soft security blanket.

We’re working frantically to get our systems ready for the Affordable Healthcare Act. Nothing is more exciting than being on the ground floor of something. And in spite of many efforts, we need national healthcare. No one should ever be sick and wonder how they’re going to pay for it.

I finally decided to get a HARP mortgage after thinking about it for a year. I’m seriously underwater on my current mortgage and if I wanted to sell my house, I would take a huge loss. This new mortgage will bring my loan in line with what my house is currently worth, plus lower my payments over $500 a month! That’s always special.

After five and a half years, I finally went to get my car title’s change to just me. Ray’s name was on the title, too, but I need a title change in case I want to change or trade in my car. Gosh, my car is 12 years old and still going strong at the moment, but I can myself needing a new vehicle eventually.

It was difficult dragging out Ray’s death certificate. It’s so yucky – cause of death “severe sepsis due to methicillin-sensitive staphylococcus areus bacteremia.” Not a pretty way to die.

And again, Ray is erased from one more document, one more piece of life that represented him. He hated my stick shift VW, but he sure loved the power of that little car. He always took my car to do errands on weekends, leaving his in the garage.

The only documents he’s on now are my checking and savings accounts. I love writing out a check and seeing Ray’s name displayed above mine. I was the keeper of our money, but he was the financial officer advising me on expenditures. I miss his advice.

Sigh. I believe death is a happy thing for the person who is dying, once they die and move into the next dimension, but it is not fun to be the one left behind. The sting isn’t as bad after five plus years, but I still miss Ray every second.

I took in two new cats. A friend of mine needed to get rid of her cats because of allergies and this was a tough decision for her. But since I lost September earlier this year, there was some room in my home for them.

Pilot (for Palm Pilot) is 10 years old and is a calico cat. She’s gorgeous and she also has no problem speaking her mind. Chester is a red-orange fluff ball, four years old, and just a cuddler.

Now I have three cats and two dogs.

Speaking of the dogs, I had to take Axel into the emergency vet service this morning. He was having trouble walking on his right hind leg. He probably pulled a muscle, but I didn’t want to give him anything for pain until he saw a vet.

The vet EMS is just as glacially slow as the people EMS. I chatted with an older couple whose dog was having convulsions. I chatted with a couple of women whose dog had been stung by a bee. A woman brought in her parakeet. A couple brought in a dog that had been hit by a car and the EMS vet euthanized it. A guinea pig had blood in its urine. And on it goes.

Axel was OK, but was prescribed a couple of pain meds. I’ll see how he does tomorrow. His problem is mostly with stairs; going up or down is painful for him.

Joe and I are going out for burgers in a bit, a date night after a quiet Sunday of reading and resting.