Saying Goodbye

Tony's grandfather passed away last Friday. While this was expected, it was still very sad. He had struggled with brain cancer for 14 months and did pretty well for most of that time. On Monday night we made the trip up to Michigan so that we could say goodbye on Tuesday. It was a wonderful funeral, with lots of fond memories and a good amount of laughter. Grandpa Hayden never minded being the butt of jokes (although it's debatable how much of any given joke he heard) as long as there was laughter. I'll miss his big heart and his open expressions of joy and wonder at what his grandchildren accomplished in the world. I don't think that I'll miss hearing the details of bumper styling for the 1936 truck he was restoring, but you never really know. He welcomed me into the family from the first time he met me and I never felt like anything besides a grandkid who had stumbled into the fold a little later in life than most of the others.

Ooh, My Aura's Showing

We went to a psychic fair last weekend. It was my fault - I have a friend who has a friend who sees auras. She told me that mine was interesting, but never told me any more. I have great fun with these sorts of things, so I was intrigued and frustrated that she went back to Australia without ever explaining. I wanted to know what color my aura is. Aura reading was on the flyer for this psychic fair, so I decided that this was my chance to define "interesting".

I got home from work and dragged a less interested Tony to the bead store. I happily paid my $10 and was escorted into a dimly lit back room. The aura reader was a heavy-set black man wearing a nice black t-shirt and olive green slacks. His name was Bill. He did have an ankh pendant on, so there was some element of the mystical there. We introduced ourselves and the first thing that he mentioned was that he saw the seven dwarves and they looked very excited and cheerful. I wasn't expecting Disney references, but who am I to say that personal symbolism shouldn't encompass pop culture? I did tell him that I am a vet, so a good number of animal references came up. Lots of different kinds of dogs, which is apparently unusual, and he asked me if I'd ever worked with exotic pets (weekly), specifically monkeys (I like prosimians, but for most people that's splitting hairs) and snakes (one to twice a year) and cranes (on this one I've got nothin'). Supposedly it's bad luck to share the interpretation, but if you ask me personally I'll explain what it all meant.

What did I learn? I worked with animals in a past life when I was a man (he seemed to think that the man part would bother me, but who cares I'm a woman this time around). No matter where my life goes I need to learn about politics. And, underneath all of the creatures frolicking, my aura is white with yellow at my crown and blue at my throat. It was fun! I might do it again some time, but I think that I'll do a past-life regression next just to get to know this man that I was :)

Oh, Tony had a reading, too. His spirits were not quite as cooperative, but they did suggest that he eat more garlic.

Side of the Angels?

As a general rule, I don't want to talk about my job here. There are lots of reasons for my ambivalence, but I think that it might be good to talk about yesterday because it's weighing on my mind (I know, I know, ego blog) and because, frankly, just about everybody involved lost.

Long story short. Yesterday we were confronted with a truly tragic animal hoarding situation. Animal hoarding is the pathologic version of the crazy cat lady. Probably most crazy cat ladies would be diagnosed with whatever the correct psychological term is for this condition. Most of the time all of these pets (and there can be hundreds) are kept in a house/apartment/trailer. Sometimes the hoarder is able to lead an otherwise normal life, sometimes it's obvious that there's a problem. You've probably all seen these stories in the newspaper or on Animal Planet. The owner always has a sense of being the savior to these animals.

Right, so what was so bad about yesterday? Yesterday's hoarder was escaping from an abusive husband with her twenty-something cats in her car. She was also trying to get the cats vaccinated so that they could stay somewhere outside of her car while she was, presumably, getting her life together. Most of these cats and kittens were sick. Animal Control and the Humane Society were both looking for her and her carload of cats. In the end, she lost almost all of the cats (she was allowed to keep a few, healthy cats), a lot of hope and probably won't get the emotional and psychological help she needs. Did we do the right thing? Yes. Was she wrong to keep these cats with her in the car? Without a doubt. Will the cats be better off now? Those that survive (and I include the ones she was able to keep) yes. Will she make it to living a safe and healthy life? Possibly. I don't know the statistics, but I seem to recall that hoarders tend to hoard again even with treatment and I can't imagine she'll get any soon. Call me overly grim, but I worry that she might kill herself. She had herself, her car and these cats. Oh, and she was trying to do the right thing and lost out anyway.

Doing the right thing is incredibly bitter sometimes.

West Virginia Wedding

This July 4th holiday weekend Amy and I drove out to West Virginia for her cousin's wedding. It was a long-ass drive, but would have certainly felt longer (to me) if i had to drive more than a couple hours of it (the unwritten rule, which much of Amy's family seems determined to believe is some sort of cover story for...something, is that whomever's family is the cause/destination of the trip, that person gets transportation and agenda-making duty/priveledge).

We had a great time. The wedding was short and sweet, reception was quite nice - the 'second reception' with dancing/etc was cancelled in favor of a get together at families house - which was a load of fun. It's the first me I've got a good chance to really relax and get to know a lot that side of Amy's family. They are a hoot. They remind me very much of my own family, just a decade older and more settled.

The following day we spent a little time at John and Jamie's (parents of Erin, the bride, Amy's cousin) camper on the (Ohio?) river, went out on the jet ski, which was a lot of fun, and just hung out some more and said our good-byes. At least three times over. It's hard to actually *leave* when there's that much family. Just liike an event wiht my family. ).

And, as a special treat for the upcoming week, I forgot to pack my medication for the trip. My happy, emotionally stabilizing, keep me from unneccesarily spiralling into a shallow but unavoidable pit off frustration and helplessness medication. It usually takes a couple missed days for me to notice, and that effect doesn't generally hit untill the 3nd-5th day. Day 3, and haven't gotten fidgety yet. We'll keep you posted in any 'mundane adventures' result.