Tonight, a concert with Laurie Anderson & Philip Glass. My 49th birthday is some ways off, but Christine considers this an early salvo of the celebration. I've not been much for celebration in recent years, and this year it will be the first anniversary of the rent increase that triggered the move. I'm beginning to find space to hold both the delight in our new home & being close to family and the loss of established connections. I share my birthday with my father & i would love to have a cake decorated with the fine skills my mother developed in handling gum paste and making flowers. I regret, though, that the rest of my family had too much of the very good thing and have dissuaded Mom from making such elaborate cakes. And now i wonder if she can manage any more. Still, being with my Dad on our birthday for the first time in years: that will be a delight.
Another joy+loss is probably one parents find: the dawg consumes attention and time. I've lost some quiet moments and i'm aware of the attention i need to keep on her. It's been almost a month. We still need a bit of supervision around the cats because Christine does not like the cats acting spooked. It's not entirely overprotective, i guess. And Carrie is getting a bit more boisterous and seems likely to chew on random things and pull things out of boxes, etc. No harm yet, but there is the care in attending to where things are left. I expect most of the hyper vigilance will fade away as we have better voice control. She is delightful to watch when she frolics and plays!
