WordPress keeps reminding me that I haven’t written anything for over a month.  I feel a little like the absent student who needs to turn in a months worth of homework I haven’t done.

We all have those less than happy times in our lives.  The past few weeks was that for me.

For many years I was a Christmas Grinch.   I dreaded the holidays, wishing I could just sleep through them and wake up in January.

You have heard the saying “Be careful what you wish for…”

That.

This year I slept through the Christmas I was excited to celebrate.

On December 21st, we drove the RV down to Newport Beach to spend Christmas with the kids and little grandkids.

Newport Dunes RV Resort was festively decorated and my newfound holiday spirit was buoyed by the view from our front window.  The holiday lights on the bay were beautiful.

Then, on the 23rd I got the flu and fever slept right through the 24th and 25th.

The universe fulfilled my wish of years past.

I missed Christmas.

We headed back to Vegas on the 26th.   My fever had broken, but I was still sick.

And things were about to get worse.

On December 28th, we took our fifteen-year-old border collie Tarra to the vet for a status update on her lung tumor.  We went in expecting to leave with just a status update.

What we left with was the dreaded information that her time was up and that we’d be taking her back that evening to let her go.

I don’t have the words to write about that yet. The Tarra shaped hole in my heart is raw and bleeding.    I am without a dog of my own for the first time in many years.

We are still blessed with Dallas, our border/golden mix, but he is definitely Daves dog.   I affectionately call him by the initials “N M D” which stands for “not my dog,” and he does allow me an occasional pet or a rare hug, but he is bonded to Dave.   My attempts to steal him have been unsuccessful.

Dallas is missing Tarra too.   In fact, he ended up with stress-induced intestinal issues which required a vet visit.

We rang in the new year on the Las Vegas strip, attending a party and watching the fireworks from the 26th-floor suite of some new friends.

I stayed up all night.

Staying up all night and recovering from the flu are not compatible things.   I came home feeling as sick as I had over Christmas.

And now, it’s January the 8th, 2018.

I made no resolutions for the new year.   I’m just going to put one foot in front of the other and do the best I can.  I’ll probably get a flu shot, and I’ll be careful what I wish for.

Somewhere out there a dog is waiting for me.   I know we’ll find each other when the time is right.

And hey, only 351 days until I get a Christmas do-over.