Feeling thankful for this four day weekend
Our brave group worked right on through Veteran’s Day to get this coming Friday off and round out our big four day weekend for the year. Our free range turkey is in the oven as I write this and it’s keeping my stomach growling in preparation for our fourth Thanksgiving Dinner together. This one is special for a few new reasons this year.
This is the first Thanksgiving that Vicky and I are husband and wife. It doesn’t feel any different though. Probably because it’s not. It’s just a piece of paper, right? But the more that I think about it the more I realize that it’s not just a piece of paper. This year I feel really safe. Really protected. This is the first year of my life that I really feel like I’m providing for my family. Vicky went in last week and signed the last of her paperwork that gives her my last name. This also allows her to share my health insurance benefits. A couple of months ago I changed the medical limits on our car insurance to protect us each up to 300,000 dollars in case of an accident. It was more expensive but it’s totally worth it. This year I bought a house. Last year I started my 401k program at work and next week I’ll be turning in the paperwork to up my contribution to that program by a larger percentage to save for my family’s retirement.
This year’s traditional Thanksgiving is also different in a much larger way with two new additions to our family, Frida and Arthur. We rescued Frida back in January from a city pound in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you would’ve asked me in February I would have thought there was a slim-to-none chance that Frida was going to make it to Thanksgiving, but she did in a big way! She’s never been healthier! She loves us almost as much as we love her. Last night as I was dozing off I started into some morbid visions of what will happen when Frida dies. Should we have a funeral? Will she die in my arms? Or will she pass away in her sleep one night. Anyway I was sudenly overtaken by fear, doubt and ultimately depression as I then burst out into tears and called for Vicky. She came into the bedroom and comforted me. Frida was on the bed with us and we sat and cried together and talked about that day. The day that none of us look forward to, the loss of a loved one. My fear and hate quickly turned into a happy smirk about an hour later though when Vicky screeched “Frida”! Frida has many special abilities that many old folks possess. One of them is the ability to have a small bowel movement while she’s asleep. Vicky cleaned it up and decided to sleep eith her on the floor in the living room last night. I slept with the two boys in the bed and slept very well for that matter, knowing that Frida will one day leave us, but not today. We just love her so much it’s almost pathetic!
Speaking of love, this is Arthur’s first Thanksgiving ever! Having a puppy is the closest thing one can experience to pure love. Arthur is so happy to see everyone all the time. Pure love does however come with quite a long list of responsibilities. Arthur has a paper shredding problem. He knows he has the problem, but he still continues to shred all paperwork he finds in his path. A couple of his latest victims have been our Marriage certificate and a $30 mail-in rebate for a hard drive I bought while we were on vacation in Texas last month. We still love him.
Meelo has spent his last three Thanksgivings with us. He is our first poodle-child and therfore our constant pride and joy. Meelo has had a very distinct attitude change since the arrival of the new boy in the house. He is working through his anger with meditation and the occasional poodle yoga class. He loves Arthur too, he just has a funny way of showing his love.
This year we decided that it’d be ok to cook up the turkey neck, gibblets, and heart and feed them to the dogs. We’ve always tried to never waste anything and when it comes to these pieces of the turkey, it’s just not what we want to eat. Against the advice of two of our good friends I fried up these pieces of the animal, chopped them up, and fed them to our kids. Meelo was, as usual quite the bully and Vicky had to separate him from the group momentarily to asure that Frida got her fair share of the Thanksgiving poodle feast! Everything went well though and none of the dogs attacked each other.
This year has been such a great year for my family. I am so proud, happy and blessed to be a part of my family, my country, and my poodles this year!