Week Eight

2020 sucks. No, it’s not because I managed to mess up more face masks. Although… We lost one of our babies. That doesn’t sound right. We didn’t actually lose, Snuffy, we made the one-way trip to the vet with him. He crossed the rainbow bridge. He would have turned 17 in December, so he was with us a long time.

Everyone who owns pets knows how much it hurts when one of them passes on. This has been a horrible year for us. Ditto, our 14-year old died in February, and Sabrina, who would have turned 17 in December, went to the vet on 7 March. So, exactly two months and one day later, Snuffy joined his sister. Have I mentioned that 2020 sucks? For quite a few years, we’ve been breaking the law. Why? You’re allowed 8 cats and 4 dogs. City ordinance. Since we no longer had dogs, we were under the twelve total, but barely. Now we’re perfectly legal, but I’d rather break the law than lose a baby. To add insult to injury, this occurred Friday, two days before Mother’s Day.

My Louisiana sister has all kinds of weirdness that happens on Thanksgiving. Which is why I’ll never spend Thanksgiving with her. Even if my exceptionally good pumpkin pies would survive the six-hour drive, that would be akin to putting our lives at risk, since someone normally ends up in the hospital. No…she’s a good cook, so Linda isn’t making them sick on purpose. Stuff just happens.

For us, it’s Mother’s Day. Weirdness happens on Mother’s Day or close to it. Case in point. In 2000, we spent Mother’s Day with my mom, and it was a spectacular day. One of those days you hold close in your heart, because it was virtually perfect. Except…she died at 4 a.m. the following day. So, my memory of that special day is tainted. Yes, I know, I have a good memory to hold on to, but still. And on Mother’s Day shortly after that, two close friends got in a car accident and almost died. Just to name two weird episodes. Linda has a black cloud hanging over Thanksgiving, and ours is Mother’s Day.

This Mother’s Day will go down in history as one of the weirdest on record. I saw an ad the other day for the perfect present for your mom. A face mask. Really? If one of my kiddos gives me a face mask, I’m cutting them out of the will. I have over 300 to finish working on, so what I really need is a box of See’s candy. Face mask for mom. What is the world coming to? If people take to heart the face mask suggestion, I’m almost positive our daily crime report will be rampant with “shooting” entries.

But since I can’t do anything about this being Mother’s Day, other than trying to ignore it, I’ll just say this. To all the moms out there who are working from home, educating their children, and still managing to do the laundry and cook dinner, THANK YOU, and I hope you have a spectacular Mother’s Day. I wish my mom was still here so I could thank her in person, but I’m pretty sure she’s happier where she is. Walking around on fluffy clouds, singing songs and praising Jesus, and eating all the See’s candy she desires without gaining weight or worrying about wearing a face mask. I’m jealous. Happy Mother’s Day!!