Every time I thought I'd give it up, someone put me on

I hadn't seen my mother in three weeks. Probably the longest we'd gone, but the time apart was needed, at least according to me. We hadn't been getting along; months after my father's passing, we're all still trying to maintain a functioning family and, at least between my mother and me, old negative patterns had asserted themselves and in order to tip the scale in the other direction I felt a break was necessary. Another way of putting it is that I was no longer willing to put up with certain things. Anyway, nothing major, just a break.

When I arrived at her home last Thursday after work, I knocked at the door and was greeted by the bark of a dog. Into the kitchen ran the cutest little dog followed by my mother who looked happier than I'd seen her in a while. She opened the door and said "Surprise!". Indeed. Turns out she had visited an animal shelter with my sister and brother in law a week prior and came home with this little girl, a cockapoo, named Mimi.

It was a blessing. I had been worried about my mother. She'd been feeling the weight of being alone, rudderless. She had talked about getting a dog for a while but never did much about it. My sister and I talked the idea up as much as we could, sent her links to shelters, that sort of thing. With the colder weather coming, I had a feeling she was going to convince herself that she'd have to wait until next spring or summer to get a dog (she had used that excuse before). Envisioning my mother alone in that house through another winter was not a comforting thought.

So learning by surprise that she went and got a dog was a true relief and lifted my spirit higher than it had been in a long time. Mimi is the perfect dog for my mother. In fact, the last time she was close to getting a dog, which must have been over ten years ago, it was a cokapoo she was interested in. I went with her across town to see it, but my mother backed off. Fast forward to last week at the no kill shelter in Salem and there is Mimi, only there two hours, waiting for my mother.

Mimi follows my mother around but is not intrusive. She hops on the recliner with her and sleeps. Mimi's back story isn't horrible but it's clear she didn't get much attention. She was primarily used for breeding purposes. She stayed outside in a heated pen most of the time. Her owners got divorced and she had to be given up. It was a mutual rescue, this pairing of my mother and her. They found each other. Yes, a blessing.
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 I finished reading Beloved yesterday. I can see why it garnered the acclaim it did. It touched me deeply. Morrison is a titan. I continue with the Dark Tower re-read (I'm about midway through Wolves of The Calla) and will start reading Vonnegut's Mother Night. It will replace Beloved as my lunch break book.

And then there is Mad Men. I'm on season two. What can I say? I love this show. Almost everything about is exquisite. I'm picking up on a lot of the subtle stuff I missed the first time around. When people make the bold claim that it could very well be the greatest television show of all time, I just nod slowly. While I don't make definitive claims like that about anything if I can help it, I will say a case can be made if you're into that type of thing.

Many times when I attempt to write lyrics, I sit and stare at a blank page for an excruciating amount of time. An hour could go by and I only have a couple of lines written. There are other times, like today, when inspiration flows like a babbling brook and I belt out some lyrics, son! A whole song finished! Well, there's the matter of a name, but that will be easy enough. USA! USA!

A gig in October. Ignore Emporium will make it's debut. It will move you to your core, I do declare  Stay tuned.

Oh, and also remember to scrub behind your ears when you bathe. Seriously.