Wooooooooooooooooooooow

It's been almost a full 8 years since my last post. In that time, so much has happened! Let's see: 1. First and foremost, I'm a Gamma now! And not just one grandbaby, I have SIX. The oldest are Julie's Jackson at 6 years old, Kat's Aaron at 6 years old, then Julie's Michael at 3, Brooklyn at 2, Alex's Acacia at 2 and finally Alex's Eila at 7 1/2 months. I love them so much and wish that I was able to see them more, but it's hard with schedules and the distance between here and where they live. Jackson and Aaron were born only two months apart, but the difference in their size when Aaron was born was striking. It looked like Jackson (the older of the two) was twice the age/size of Aaron. But it was just that Jackson was a bit large and Aaron was a bit tiny. But both are wonderful. Now that they're six, the size difference isn't AS striking. Actually, all of Julie's children are large for their age. And I don't mean chubby babies. I mean like someone hit 150% on the copier by accident. I mean, for Christmas this past year, Michael (3) was in 5T clothes and Brooklyn (not yet 2) was in 3T. I call Brooklyn "my baby" because when I firwt met her, I didn't want to let her go. She was the first girl born amongst the grandbabies and I fell in love. I tried to keep her, but I was forced to let her go home with her parents. So every time I see her now, I walk in and say "Give me my baby!". Jackson and Michael have been diagnosed with Autism, but they are in therapy and I'm told they're doing well (again, see the "I don't see them often enough" comment). Alex had her two girls in fairly quick succession. I believe there's less than an year between the two. And while we would prefer Alex find a better mate, I have to say that Raul is a good father to his girls. The two of them (Alex and Raul), despite the hurdles they've faced, are still going strong. So I guess I have to give that to them. Alex is a doting mother, and those girls are SUPER cute. They video chat with Smiley usually about once a week. I usually hear him making popping noises and gurgles while I'm working on a Friday, and I know that means he's face to face with a grandbaby. Smiley loves being a grandpa. I love being a grandma. Life's pretty good that way. 2. We lost Loki and then Shoe. It's been 2-3 years now since they're gone and it still hurts. Loki passed during a routine dental cleaning (THAT sucked), and Shoe got cancer and was gone within weeks of his diagnosis.

3. We acquired and lost Sassy, an American Eskimo rescue. She was wonderful. She too was lost due to cancer. That makes three furbabies lost to cancer. No more, please.

4. We acquired Lucy (short for Lucyfur), who was a rescue from Illinois. She was brought up for me by our friend Keri for a trial weekend. This was a few months after we lost Shoe. She is a beautiful calico baby. I fell in love with her at first sight. Keri described her as very anti-social, hates humans (hisses at them), generally ok with other animals, but loved Keri. Initially she was very skiddish, and wasn't my biggest fan. Then Smiley came home. Next thing I know he's coming around the corner from the front all with her in his arms all lovey dovey. She didn't really warm up to me that weekend, so at the end of the weekend when Keri was packing up to go home, she asked if she was packing up Lucy too (she had a different name at that time - Willow or some shit). I looked at her loving on my husband and just couldn't take that away from him. And that, my friends, is how my husband acquired a cat.

5. We were graced with Puddin. So Smiley's bff lives Up Nort, where even the cities are in the country. And I come home from work one day and Smiley asks me, "How would you like a kitten?" At that point, I wasn't sure anymore. I was still hurting from Shoe and Loki (this wasn't long after we got Lucy), and Lucy still wasn't warming up to me. I was wondering if I should even bother. Plus kittens get into so much stuff... "It's part bobcat." he says. SOLD. So I eagerly awaited the birth of our new kitten (we got first pick of the litter). Then they were born and I bugged Smiley every weekend to go up north. It took us a couple of months, so I had to pick a kitten (to be set aside) from pictures. Most of the kittens were black. There was one grey and white one, one calico and one light calico. Now, apparently not everyone's heard of a light calico, so let me explain for those confused. A calico is a cat (usually female) that is black, brown and white. A light calico is a cat (also usually female) that is gray, tan and white. I point this out specifically because guess which one was love at first sight? Yup, the light calico. I tell Smiley's bff and his wife this. They set aside a kitten and start to give it extra loves because they know I want a snuggler. Guess which one they set aside? You guessed it, the regular calico. Eventually when pictures of the wrong kitten start arriving on a regular basis, I point out the error. No, LIGHT calico. The gray, tan and white one. OH! So better late than never, light calico kitten starts getting extra snuggles. So longer-than-I-wanted later, when we show up to finally pick up my new baby, there's TWO super snuggly babies. And they're freakking adorable. I start to second guess my decision, but the pull was still there toward the light calico. I felt like this may be my new familiar. Smiley says, "We are NOT bringing home TWO kittens." But what if.... I say, I agree, I don't want two kittens. But maybe we know someone who's looking for a kitten? At this point, Strings pops to mind. We quickly send pictures to Strings of the kittens. He agrees, he likes the calico, but his current apartment doesn't allow pets. But he's moving in a few months, so... Smiley's bff says either we take both now or we take one now, but he's not holding onto a kitten for a few months. Somehow I manage to puppydog eye my way into convincing Smiley that we should take both kittens home, and the calico (the darker one) will go live with Strings when he gets his new place. Enter Lillith and Puddin. Bringing home two kittens actually made the transition easier for the kittens since they had a sibling to take comfort with. Lucy, who had been warming up to me at this point, realized I had the AUDACITY to bring KITTENS into her home and quickly wrote me off. A few short months later, Strings bought a house and Lillith (aka Lilly aka Demon Child) went to live with her daddy. Puddin, on the other hand, the light calico, was the cutest kitten I've ever seen. I'm not kidding.

My mother stopped by one day and I brought Puddin out to meet Grandma. My mother took one look at her and burst into tears, exclaiming, "Oh my goodness! She's the cutest kitten I've ever seen!" And my mother is not a cat-person. I also heard her whisper to the kitten, "You have no idea how lucky you are. You are going to have the most wonderful home."

6. Logan came to live with us for his high school years. I was shocked that his mom let him go, but I guess it was better than watching her son kill her husband. Just another example of her choosing her husband over her children. But I digress. This is about Logan, not her. It was wonderful having the Boy with us. And then the house we were living in (renting) was put on the market. Smiley and I made the choice to take that opportunity to move back to my hometown. Smiley had gotten a job there and had been commuting an hour to work and based on where we were, my commute would be about an hour, regardless of whether we stayed where we were or went back to my hometown. Unfortunately, that meant uprooting the Boy for his senior year. He had turned 18 within days of the end of his Junior year, and he made the decision to stay. It was an upsetting time, having the Boy move out very suddenly and unexpectedly, as we had planned for him to move with us. He claimed to be living with his best friend and his best friend's family (this was the arrangement we were told), but before long, it was apparent that he was ACTUALLY living with his girlfriend and her family. (*sigh*) He also made the decision to enlist into the army. So within three weeks of graduation from high school, we had to say goodbye to the Boy as we sent him off to boot camp. I cried for a week. He made it through boot camp ok and is now stationed at Fort Knox in Kentucky. And he asked his girl to marry him. We were so happy. She's a great gal and we get along great with her family. They're currently planning a wedding for August of this year. 7. We "acquired" a Jacky. What's a Jacky? She's a 20-something woman whose family was JUST AWFUL to her. Very toxic. Since Logan had no use for his room, we asked Jacky to come stay with us. By separating herself from the environment of her family, she has managed to set boundaries and somewhat heal. She's also found a bit of her voice and is starting to realize that it's ok to do what's in her best interests instead of the whims of narcissistic family members who treat her like a workhorse. She's also had some gender-identity issues and, at least in my eyes, she has been able to embrace that part of herself more knowing she won't be constantly judged, put down, etc. in this house. It's been nice to watch her grow into herself. 8. One word: Covid. We've lost people. The pandemic has changed people and their environments. I now work from home. I love working from home. It's the only good part of Covid. The bank was forced to test their technological limits and found that their systems held up. Next month it will be two years that I've been working from home. I rarely wear jeans or dress pants anymore. I'm not alone in that. 9. I started a business. Not just any business, a Pure Romance business (Pure Romance by Ray J - https://bit.ly/PureRomancebyRayJ ). Yes, that's right, I've achieved the ultimate goal of being the "Dildo Lady". It's so much more than that. The company is ever-evolving and has gotten much more well-rounded in their product selection. They stress education and are now working toward certifications for their independant consultants (now called Partners). I've built my business up. I have a team under me. I am a leader. I am in the Future Leaders program, scheduled for April graduation. I'm hoping one day to make this my only job. I have a ways to go, but I have ideas to get me there. It's hard work, but very rewarding. Plus it satisfies my desire to learn. There's always something more for me to learn in this business. PR even has partnered with Indiana University for a Sexual Health Professional Training Program. Of course I signed up. Thank goodness it's self-paced, because shortly after I signed up, I was accepted into Future Leaders and that has taken up a lot of my time. I just recently completed a 21-day cleanse (a program from PR) where I learned that not all fish suck and I like spaghetti squash (among other things). Also, I feel better with cleaner eating. I may actually start eating better now. Welp. I think that's the highlights. I'm sure I'm missing SO MUCH that happened in the last eight years. That's ok. Maybe I'll post again sooner than eight years from now. LOL