We have a surplus of dogs right now on our bed. I have Coco to my immediate left, by my legs, Ro-ro, Liz’s parents’ dog is down by my ankles, and Coops is down at the foot of the bed on a little ottoman. It’s really Rosie that’s the surprise. She came into the bed, and she laid down and hasn’t moved. She wants to be with the other dogs, I suppose.
Ro-ro grew up with another dog around, Rocky, the family Westie for the Hos for many years, who just recently passed away. So, I guess it’s not surprising that she is really excited at the prospect of sleeping with other dogs. She’s missed their company. She’s a nervous dog, a thinker and a worrier. It must feel good to have her own kind around again for a nice, safe, sleep.
We drove up today to the Bay. It was a pretty straightforward drive. Liz slept almost the whole way…well, maybe not quite that much, but a huge chunk of it. Almost from right after the grapevine all the way through to the 580 that splits off from the 5 to go into the Bay Area. While she slept, I listened to the Moth (that included a crazy-ass story about a guy who was actually in one of the turbine rooms at the Fukushima plant when the quake hit, and then standing up on top of a hill when the tsunami came in 20 minutes later, watching the whole thing and thinking about all the people who lived in the lowlands that he knew, wondering if they were safe), and then I listened to Christmas music.
The Ho and I have talked at length together about how it’s been a bit hard this year, honestly, to get into the Christmas feeling. We’ve pretty much decided it’s come down to several things. We did all of our shopping from home this year, and shopping with the crowds and the decorations and the music is a *huge* part of the Christmas feeling. We also didn’t do a tree this year because Thanksgiving was so late in November and we’d only have had the tree for two weeks, which just didn’t seem worth it. Mainly, though, for me at least, it has to do with how much work that I slogged through in the last four weeks or so. It’s just so completely demanded my focus and attention, that I haven’t had time to come up for air and notice that Christmas has, in fact arrived.
But, on the dark road (it was night time), with Christmas music in my headphones, our destination within a mere couple hours, and rain spattering on my windshield, it did *start* to feel like Christmas. When Liz woke up, we talked about all the things that used to make Christmas feel like Christmas when we were younger: school functions, like concerts and parties, the rain (in Northern California, at least along the coasts where we grew up, it rains in the winters, not snows), the Christmas lights on all the houses…I loved Christmas. It was easily my favorite time of year. Every is just so happy, and there is family, and friends, and all the excitement about gifts and food…I loved Christmas. I still do. I used to not be able to travel like this for Christmas, to leave town for 2 weeks and really get to see my family. It was school, and then it was restaurant work, they just wouldn’t let you do it. So, I really, really don’t take these trips for granted, or at least I try not to.
But, here we are. In bed, in San Francisco (Hillsborough, to be more accurate), with an extra dog snuggled up, and feeling tired and ready for some rest. Much needed rest. I have some extra writing to do tomorrow since it didn’t happen again today, but writing is it. That’s all that’s on my plate, and it feels nice to have it that way. I really need some time off, and not to escape from anything, but just to relax. To let my pace slow for a little while, let the muscles release, breathe in some clean air, and rest.
I’m very, very much looking forward to it.
Goodnight y’all, and I hope you’re finding your own Christmas spirit, or dog convention. Both are pretty dope.
Tonight’s artwork isn’t Chistmas-y, but I just had to post it. It’s from this summer space living study that NASA did in the 70s, and it’s concept art that they posted online here for anyone to use, even for publication. The artist’s name is Don Davis. Cool stuff!