The Dog Days of Thanksgiving

This morning, I had to drop off my dogs at the kennel, where they will spend the next 5 days while I travel to the midwest. It's always a sad time because I would much prefer they be with me over this holiday time. However, no one wants that but me - they are not the most well-behaved pooches and you certainly can't just show up at the Thanksgiving dinner with a hyperactive 80 pound Chessie and a whiny, neurotic Beagle in tow.

No, that just is not acceptable. But I often think (and mention aloud to whoever will listen) that I could show up with some poorly behaved children and everyone would just have to deal with it and talk about me behind my back like any other self-respecting family. Yes, that is the difference when you've chosen canine kids over the more common human ones.

Oh well. Such is my life. And I would not trade it for anything in the world. It will be a happy reunion on Monday when we all come together in our happy home. While I am super excited for the holiday time and the family visit and shopping and laughter, I also can't wait to come back to my own little world here. That will also be a great feeling.

So, Happy Turkey Day - to both my peeps and my pups.

Get Down With Your Bad Self

You know how "they" always like to say things like, "Well, things are never black and white, my dear" and you cringe because it is so cliche? Well, it's true. And as much as I hate to admit it, we'd probably all do better to remember the world works in various shades of gray.

We are all tempted to parcel everything out - you to the "good" column, you over here to the "evil." No exceptions, no negotiations. Right vs. wrong, positive or negative, everything has its place and a place for everything. I suppose some succeed in their own minds at this impossible task, though in reality, it's simply inconceivable to look at the world this way.

For the past five years or so, I've been involved in the court system. More specifically, I work with the criminals. Some of that time, I worked putting them away. Other times I helped spring them free. Now, I sit squarely in the middle, striving only to help when I can and taking no firm position. Yes, most would think the criminal courts provide some vindication because if you commit a crime, you're bad, right?

Except not always. And it's frustrating (and only somewhat depressing) to see horrible judgement calls from otherwise quite likable folks. These people are often a lot like me and even you - and are certainly similar to scores of people I have known in my life, except they've been caught in their crimes while other criminals roam free, untouched.

Sometimes luck is the only thing standing between prison and freedom. It certainly doesn't stand up to reason that everyone on the street is living a crime-free life. In fact, most people in your own day-to-day routine are guilty of a crime for which they have legally skated by any consequence.

Because having not been arrested does not mean you are automatically a stand-up citizen. And doing a bad thing does not always make you an overall bad person.

Sometimes, I wish it did. It would make my job a whole lot easier on the soul.

A Typical Saturday

It's a weekend before Thanksgiving. Tomorrow brings the annual holiday separation, as my husband and I go our own ways for the next week. We might catch each other somewhere around "hump day" or so, but largely we're solo for the next seven days.

It's okay, if only a bit unconventional. This works for us and we have grown into this little tradition. There are deer to hunt, you know, and only one of us can do that - or wants to do that. (Hint: I root for the deers.) So, we go on our private treks for this holiday season.

But not yet. For today, as always, Saturday mornings are meant for coffee and something warm on the television. (I choose "The Daily Show.") The pups are in their usual routine - Gracie fans out on her dog bed just inches from the roaring fire and Emma paces the perimeter watching the snowy yard from the window. My husband is at the gym for his weekly racketball game and we're geared up for the Mountaineers' afternoon contest. (W! V! U! WVU!)

We will relish this normalcy for one last day. Then, after a week of travel and over-eating and family fun, we'll reconverge in our little abode here and take back our little family traditions.

All is right with our world.

I Wish I Might Make A Wish

My very own super-duper, stratospheric wish list for today: a lazy, rainy, spend-the-day-in-front-of-the-fire-with-the-pups North Carolina Saturday:

I wish I worked at Dunder Mifflin (I know it's fictional, but still...) with Jim and Dwight and Pam and the 'Nard Dog so I could say Michael Scott is my boss, too. Jim could put my stuff in Jello anytime!

I wish I could just win the PowerBall any of the 2 or 3 times a month I play it, but I am everyday grateful that I only want the winnings for frivolous things and don't need it to live.

I wish the Steelers' offense all the best in the coming weeks because I love them and know they need the luck.

I wish someday I could meet one of my celebrity crushes (i.e. Matt Damon, Ryan Gosling, Dave Matthews, Russell Crowe, et cetera) in person, buy him a drink, and pick his brain about the genius of his craft. Really, that is what I would most like to do.

I wish I had known Carrie Bradshaw (I know it's fictional, but still...) and been one of her best friends.

I wish I had these awesome brown boots I saw last week, though they are way, WAY out of my price range.

I wish I had a completely stress-free life, where wishes frequently came true, and I wish everyone else had that life as well.

(I know it's fictional, but still...)

Thank Goodness!

It's almost Thanksgiving. Well, kind of. I used to love Thanksgiving above almost all holidays. It's just not the same anymore.

As a kid, I'd wake up to smells of turkey and stuffing and watch the Macy's parade in my living room while my sister and I made place cards for the three grandparents who would attend - because with three extra people at the table, how would anyone know where to sit? My sister would also wear a cardboard pilgrim hat she made in kindergarten - when she ceased with the hat, she was likely a teenager. (I don't think that's a totally happy memory for her, but it is to me!! I know my mom still has that hat, so watch out sis!)

Now, Thanksgiving means travel. It is still awesome, don't get me wrong. We have new traditions - good ones, like the annual Black Friday shopping trip, which is highly anticipated each year. I still wish I could wake up at home and watch the parade, but seeing the family is certainly worth the extra steps taken to do so.

I think the real reason I loved Thanksgiving, though, was that moment when we went around the table and explained for what we were thankful. I'd think and plan my little speech to make sure I did not leave anything out.

Now, I realize I don't really need Thanksgiving day to be grateful for the good stuff in my life. All days, I find at least one thing for which to be thankful - and I can always find way more than just one! So, I don't get to watch the parade anymore (I miss the Rockettes most of all...)

But I do get to be thankful. Each and every day.

Best Week Ever!

As weeks go, this one went pretty darn great. If I look back seven days from today, it's pretty scary how many great moments I experienced, not really knowing when I began how wonderful it would turn to be. In the tradition of our instantaneous culture, where yesterday's news is not too new to analyze historically, I shall partake for my own sake. (And make a little rhyme, too!)

I showed up to my sister's house last Thursday night and we got to spend some treasured and rare time together. We stayed up late and talked over the finer plot points of the movie "Atonement" while repeating our disdain that the Oscar went to "No Country For Old Men" (a terrific flick, don't get me wrong) over "There Will Be Blood" (infinitely better on so many levels) while we also mentioned the striking similarities between Bob from "Twin Peaks" and Randall Flagg from "The Stand." This might sound like the most boring way to spend an evening, unless you are us.

On Friday, we traveled to our "home-home" where we visited the parents, celebrated my sister's birthday, and then took the 'rents to dinner to belatedly celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. We surprised them with a trip to Atlantic City and they were sufficiently shocked as we had hoped they would be.

Saturday brought a Mountaineer win (big time!) and a Michigan loss (ha-ha) and even an overtime thriller where Pitt pulled it out. Now, I know as a WVU fan I must hate Pitt - and I do - but in a "lesser of two evils" scenario, where Pitt played Notre Dame (oh, the hatred runs deep...) I had to pull for Pitt. Don't shoot me, as I did grow up an hour from the 'Burgh and followed my heart to WVU and deplore Penn State...I had to root the way I did. Notre Dame must go down when possible, especially when WVU becomes bowl eligible on the same day Michigan loses its own eligibilty for the first time in thirty-plus years.

Sunday brought more family time and Monday night I relished in an important Steelers win against the Redskins - what a show! In any other week, that alone might have been enough to send me over the gleeful edge, but on Tuesday, our fine country elected a fine new president. The week literally could not have been better. (Unless I win the West Virginia PowerBall - then, it really could!)

Sometimes, this strange cycle of ups and downs does shift your way. I realize not everyone had such a fine week, that some perceptions of the very same events lead some people to the depths of despair. I myself have been there (oh, about four years ago...) My joy is tempered with this understanding and I can sympathize.

But I will not apologize for the happiness I feel. I just can't, even if I wanted to do so. The world looks a bit brighter for these days and I will bask in such glow for a little while at least. Not everyone gets a week like this one and I may never see another.

And I am thankful.

Yes, In Fact, We Did!

The night is old or the day is young, however you wish to put it. I am rosy red with emotion and pride - all lovely elements in the wee hours of any morning, but more poignant somehow on this morning, historic in our blessed country.

My thoughts will likely be better put tomorrow or the next day, but right now, I must let out some of the joy which brims and bubbles not just under the surface but through it and over it, too. It's been a long road. I only imagine how those who have walked the path must feel, deep down in that place not blue or red on a map.

While I sat on the sidelines, breathless, they marched for a change in this nation, unprecedented in scope. It's not just the relief that I can't keep in, it's the hope which I forgot I had the chance to feel, forgot was still in me. It waited, patiently, for the chance to escape safely and lo, it appears to have arrived on a warm day in November.

The more insightful ideas will come, rampantly I am sure, in the next few days and weeks and months. Right now, my thoughts present in snippets and tears.

For tonight, I leave in full the text message from my best friend, with whom I've shared my passion and concern for the fate of our country:

"Thank god for obama! we can all stay in the country - who would have thought they would call it before midnight. back to bed good night!"

Indeed. Good night, good luck, and good bye!