Too Much

Sometimes, there's just too much.

Too much going on in life to be able to do everything on your list.

Too much to do to think very much about what is going on in life. It's a vicious cycle.

I started a new job about 10 days ago. It's a huge change for me. Getting ready for my last day at the old job was two weeks of working in double-time. I don't like to leave a mess behind me if I can avoid it. It was also two weeks of preparing to part with close working friends. I really, really miss those awesome women.

The new job presents a whole new set of challenges. For one thing, I need to learn a new "language". I speak plumbing. I speak insurance. I used to speak restaurant but that's been a while. Now I need to learn to speak propane! New people, new software... new new new!

And then.Then.

After 13 years of struggling over the title of "Dominant Female", the race ended. We had to put down our old O.C.D. Australian Cattle Dog, Ruthie. That was a difficult day, I must say. We discussed her downward spiral often and wondered if the day was coming when we would have to make that tough decision. Last Friday it was no longer a matter for discussion. The time was clearly at hand.

Our young dog, Chloe, keeps checking Ruthie's favorite napping spots. When she's convinced that Ruthie isn't here, she lays down abruptly in what looks a lot like a teenager throwing herself on the bed to cry.

I understand the feeling.

Give me a little time to find my new stride, and I'll be back to posting regularly. Meanwhile, give your dog a hug.

Ruthie. 1999 - 2013

Clean

I wanted to do something a little different with the third and final book in the series.

Each of the three books, A Gathering of Light, A Light in the Mountains and the newest, The Light of a Fire Opal is a complete story that is not dependent on the other books in the series. There is a common thread that unites the three stories, but it isn't necessary to read the first one in order to comprehend the others.

Someone commented that, as much as she liked A Gathering of Light, I should have omitted the profanity. OK, I get that. Of course, I think the profanity is entirely appropriate to the situations in which it occurs. I challenge anyone whose hand is being crushed while he's being stepped on by a mule to NOT swear, but that's beside the point. The nature of the attack on the heroine of the story, and the two instances of profanity made the story somewhat less that CLEAN.

In the second book, A Light in the Mountains, there is an instance of premarital sex. Yep. Even in the late 1800s, people did sometimes take the lid off the cookie jar before they were "supposed to". There are also a few scenes of conjugal bliss that are a little descriptive. Nothing in any shade of gray, mind you, but there they are.

For the final book in the series, The Light of a Fire Opal, I wanted to write a story that would be compelling and yet clean. I ran into a little trouble there. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't quite leave out all the profanity. I used the word "tit", which isn't exactly profanity, but there is one part of the story where the only word that works is ..... shit. All together, the story contains one "hell", one "shit", two "damn"s and a "tits".

I guess I'm incorrigible.

At Last

Woo hoo! Can I hear a big "YAHOOEY!"

28

Twenty-eight years ago, I said "I do."
Twenty-eight years ago, he said "I do."

Twenty-eight. 28. Two decades and eight years. 336 months. However you say it, it's an astonishing length of time. I've learned so much and grown so much over those years, and I am happy to report that I am even more in love with my Sweet Hubs than I was on the day I promised to love him forever. I would love him even if he couldn't rescue me from disaster the way he does. I would love him if even he didn't get my heart pounding the way he does. That he can do these things is fantastic and adds an element of fun, hot and WOW to our relationship. So, what did I learn over the last 28 years?

• Lingerie works. You don't have to look like Jennifer Lawrence (who has uneven boobs. I heard her say so). Trust me. Ditch the granny panties and the industrial-strength bras and go sexy. Mom told me that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. She. Was. Wrong.
• Clubs and barrooms are no place to nurture a marriage. One thing that almost every divorced couple I know has in common: a lifestyle that included regular "going out"s. Going out with the girls, going out with the guys, going out with other couples, going out on a Saturday night. Good things never come from it.
• Never throw the word "divorce" around carelessly. Words have power, folks. If you whip that "D word" out in every argument, it will become the sword that kills your marriage. Keep bringing it up, and it starts to sound like a good idea. So just don't say it.
• It is a mistake to put the children before the marriage. Your loving marriage is the greenhouse in which to grow healthy, happy, balanced children. The children are there because of your love, so don't let the children upstage that same love. 
• Love is a chameleon. Your love doesn't look like ours. Ours doesn't look like my parent's, and nobody's love looks like what you see in movies, novels or television. You have to see your own relationship on its own merits and quit comparing it to anything else.
• Treat every parting and every homecoming with the respect it deserves. I think about the parents who sent their child to school and never saw them again. I think about a colleague of mine whose husband died of a heart attack at work one day. I hope they kissed goodbye that morning.

No one can do everything they should do all the time. If we could, then we'd be perfect and no one could stand us. It's still worth striving for. My husband is my heart. He has seen me at my best and my worst and all the shades in between and loves me anyway. If nothing else, 28 years has taught me the value of that.