I’ve recently discovered that Halo has a social life I know absolutely nothing about. We’ll be outside, minding our own business, when a neighbor stops us. “Is that Halo?” Not “your cat.” Halo. By name. Then they proceed to tell me how friendly she is, how she visits them, how she rolls around on the…
I’ve discovered something wonderful. I absolutely love being a grandma. There’s something almost surreal about watching your own child become a parent. One minute, you’re the one packing snacks, wiping sticky fingers, and wondering whether you’ll ever sleep through the night again. The next, you’re watching the child you raised do those same things with…
My daughter was explaining her latest assignment for her veterinary assistant course, and I was doing a wonderful job of following along. At least, I thought I was. Then she started using words I couldn’t pronounce. Not complicated words, according to her. Just perfectly normal veterinary terms that apparently require three extra syllables and a…
I’m a grandma. I keep saying it, partly because I’m excited and partly because my brain still hasn’t caught up. It seems like yesterday my own kids were little. I was stepping over toys, searching for missing shoes and answering approximately four thousand questions before breakfast. Now one of those children has a child of…
This week was a little more stressful than I would have liked. Halo managed to get some dirt stuck up her nose (because apparently sniffing everything is part of her daily job description), so off to the vet we went to have it flushed out. The procedure itself went well, but she didn’t react well…
I finally set up a couple of chairs in my front entrance. You know… the kind that make you think, This looks nice. People can sit here to put their shoes on. Apparently, I had misunderstood their purpose. Within minutes, Halo had inspected them, jumped onto one, turned around exactly three times, and settled in like…
I would like to file a formal complaint. Somehow, it is the end of June. I don’t know who allowed this to happen, but I feel personally attacked. One minute I was thinking, “Oh good, summer is starting. I have lots of time.” And the next minute, June packed a bag, stole my snacks, and…
We went over to my sister-in-law’s for a lovely Father’s Day barbecue. Beautiful weather. Good company. Family everywhere. The promise of grilled food in the air. You know what wasn’t in the air? Our steaks. The steaks we had carefully marinated for over a day. The steaks we were supposed to bring. The steaks that…
Another Year, Another Hockey Magnet Defeat Every year before the hockey playoffs, my family gathers around a board covered in team magnets. This is serious business. We move the teams through each round, predicting who will win until we’ve chosen the team we believe will take the Stanley Cup. We’ve been doing this for more…
I made a bold decision the other night. Dangerous, really. I decided I was going to leave my office, take my laptop to bed, and finish a few little things from there. Nothing major. Just a couple of tasks I wanted to get done without sitting at my desk like a Victorian clerk trapped in…
