Falling In Love In October

"May you fall in love in October

and all the beauty it brings,

May your life be as colorful as

the turning of the leaves,

On each blessed autumn day!"

~Charmaine J. Forde

As of today, Alan and I will have been married 28 years! We began dating in late august, of 1988, but we knew it was really love in October! Alan proposed to me, the following year, on October 8th, 1989, and we were married one year later, on October 13th, 1990! Everything went wrong with the wedding, it was a true comedy of errors, from uncooperative, insane relatives, to the wrong cake being delivered, that, by the way, tasted like Certs breath mints, to someone stealing the pew decorations, before we could do our wedding photos... lol... everything went wrong, but the only thing Alan and I concentrated on was he and I, because that was all that mattered! Which is not to say there wasn't a few shit fits thrown about it later, there were, by both of us, but our love for each other, had nothing to do with it! As it was then, so it is now, it's just he and me.

AND

HE AND ME
ARE FOREVER
WE!

 #22 Leaf Of The Day

October 13th, 2018

Little Farm

Tilden Park

Berkeley, California

~Mood Happy

~Me :)

 

Happy Together! In Love Forever!

"So, it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; were gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday."

~Nicholas Sparks

The Notebook

 

We did it! We made it to our 26th anniversary! Life has taken some really odd turns in those years. Times of complete happiness, times of great sorrow. Doubts. Fortune. Times when the checkbook ended up in the negative. Health. Illness. You know, all the things that the vows remind you of when you sign up for the adventure, but that you don't really know how it will be till it's experienced. We have faced it all and them some. Like the loss of our beloved cat Elvis.  

Elvis was our best friend. He was also an amazing marriage guide, in that if we got out of line, he would set us straight! We had Elvis about 6 years, when one day he did a nose dive, from the top of the dresser, onto our bodies as we slept! BANG! It was quite a way to wake up! "What the HELL was that?" Alan said groggily. "I don't know" I responded. And I didn't! He had never done that before. Then a couple days later, at about the same time of day, he did a similar action, by running across our bodies while we slept! This was quite uncharacteristic of him. What in the world was he trying to tell us?

This behavior went on for about two weeks, with enough randomness that he would let our guard down and think he was over whatever it was compelling him to do that. Then one morning, I heard him jump onto the dresser, and I quickly cautioned Alan that the Elvis bomb was incoming! We both rolled to our sides at the same time, narrowly missing him landing hard between us! As we talked about it over breakfast that morning, I realized that Elvis had been doing this for a couple weeks, which coincided with the amount of time Alan and I had been fussing over an issue in our lives!

Elvis, loved us enough to put us in our place! He had picked up on the fussing, and he would have NO part of it! Dive bombing us was his way of bring us together, to solve a common problem. When I told my theory to Alan, he said that it was worth working on coming to reasonable compromise to the issue... that day... and we did. And that night, for the first time in a long time, we didn't go to bed annoyed with each other, and Elvis never dive bombed us again!

And we have never seen a hint of that behavior in our new little boys, in fact Hendrix considers bed time Love-Love time. He tucks us in, and purrs and kneads on us, and then we all drift off to sleep. Bedtime just wouldn't be the same without those kitty kisses at night! Alan and I learned from the world's best cat, to not go to bed angry, or resentful, or negative of any kind, and while that lesson was learned completely, we appreciate the nightly gentle reminder from Hendrix to never forget!

We are happy together!

In love forever!

 Leaf Of The Day

October 13th, 2016

Mood: Happy

~Me :) 

One Paw At A Time

"The only thing a cat worries about is what's happening right now. As we tell the kittens, you can only wash one paw at a time."

~Lloyd Alexander, Time Cat

Yesterday, Alan and I discovered a sore on our new house guest, Foster, that we hadn't noticed before. We have had him since last Saturday, and we both thought we had checked him over pretty good, but somehow a gash under his front left leg had gone unnoticed. Foster doesn't complain much, in fact, the only real sound he makes is a heavy purrrrrrr. He is an amazingly beautiful, gentle cat. Anyway, we decided that if we were going to do right by him, a trip to see Dr. Barrett would be the thing to do. So, off to see Dr. B. we went!

Dr. Barrett confirmed a lot for us. The gash could have been done by the large crows Alan had seen circling Foster, when he first found him last Saturday. He also confirmed for me that Foster probably wasn't a feral cat at all! That kitten is way too gentle and agreeable to be a kitten that has had to hunt and care for himself for most of his young life. I can't be sure, but I think someone owned Foster, but when it became too inconvenient for them, they dropped him on the freeway, or nearby, and Foster couldn't care for himself as an outside, wild one.

We will never know what happened. And to be honest, I don't think I want to know. I know there are well meaning people in this world that sometimes make bone-headed decisions. And sometimes there are people who don't understand the difference between a domesticated kitty and a feral one, assuming Foster would have all the instinct and skills to survive on his own. But I also know that there is an ASSHOLE born every minute! W.C. Fields used to say... "There is a sucker born ever minute." He was right. But he forgot to mention that there are a lot of different people born every minute, and among them are the, ASSHOLES.

It doesn't matter. 

Little by little over the past week, Alan and I have both fallen completely in love with that little cat, but we were still sitting on the fence about whether keeping him would be the right thing to do. We live in a small place, that is completely filled with love already. Dylan and Hendrix are larger than life characters, and they have settled in nicely to their routines, but after a good long talk with Dr. Barrett, we decided to keep the kitten. So, we are now a slightly larger family of a Dad, Mom and three little boys. Honestly, I am not sure how it's going to work. Who will get super jealous? Who will be completely welcoming? Will Foster be able to blend in? Will Hendrix or Dylan get hurt feelings?

Am I too old to even try this? God, I feel so old. My Fibromyalgia exhausts me. All valid considerations I think. But somehow, keeping the little boy... well... just all feels so right! The only thing that didn't feel right is his name. Foster? Banana's Foster? Foster Brooks? Foster Freeze? Foster Child? Nope. That would never do! So, after some consideration, Alan and I chose a name in keeping with our love of music and musicians.

So, let me introduce to you...

Joey (Ramone)

We are all going to be fine! We are a family! And like everything else, we are going to take life one paw at a time!

And Now, My Favorite Ramone's Song...
"Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"
 

Joey And Me
December 5th, 2013
Joey's Official Birth Date
October 13th, 2013

Mood: Happy! Thank You, Dr. Barrett! :)

~Me :)