Fadedwords

I nearly forgot…

But a year ago today we closed on our house. 

Owning a home has been incredibly wonderful, albeit stressful at times.  I think I’m safe in speaking for Jake when I say that it has been a fantastic part of our lives. 

I was thinking this morning about some decisions I’ve made in the last few years and feeling incredibly thankful that I made the ones I did.

I interviewed for a job as Assistant Dean of Student Life at a college here in North Carolina while I was waiting to get word on the salary situation for the job at the middle school.  I was so nervous about that interview, but I immediately fell in love with the campus and the people.  I was offered the job two days after I interviewed.  Jake and I were in Mississippi at the time, the first visit I ever made with him, and I was incredibly torn as to what I should do.  The college wanted me to start on July 7th, but said they could be flexible due to how far I had to move.  I took a giant leap of faith and turned down that job.  It would have been an awesome position, one that would’ve looked great on a resume and likely would have propelled me into a very long and successful career in higher education.  This is a field I still miss quite substantially.

This morning I was thinking of all the things that would not have happened had I taken that job.  I never would have met Courtney, Paul, Cliff, Kristen, Jeff, Aren, TJ, Tyler, Jay, Sandy, and all my other close friends in Plymouth.  Those are people I cannot imagine my life without.  I might never have had a job as a counselor if I took that job either; considering the ridiculous amount I paid for my education it’s kind of good I’m doing what I set out to do at the beginning.  I would never have gotten Merlin, because that school didn’t allow on-campus staff to have dogs.  I don’t know if Jake and I would’ve bought a house or not.

This is just one situation I’ve had in the past few years, and it was on my mind this morning.  There have been a lot of other crossroads in the past few years, some more difficult and some extremely simple.  Looking back at things I know I made the right decision. 

What hard decisions have you had to make?  Do you look back and feel confident that you chose wisely?

I realize that yesterday was Merlin Monday.  Events in the evening yesterday warrant discussion… so just call this Terrible Tuesday.

From a young age, Merlin has been fascinated with mud.  It started about a week after his first bath; I had let him outside at our house in Plymouth, and when I came outside to check on him he was up to his armpits in mud.

He was so very pleased with himself, and no matter how many times I covered up any muddy spots in the yard he would find them again and immediately dig them up.  Cleaning him up was a nightmare; he hated to be toweled dry or wiped off and would run when he saw a towel. 

His fascination carried over to sand.  When we went to the beach he wanted nothing more than to dig giant holes in the beach.  This was preferable to mud, because it wasn’t as messy.  Not to mention, he looked damn cute with sand all over his face.

Of course, since moving up here there have been all kinds of fun days.  We have very sandy soil in our back yard, so occasionally Merlin decides that digging a giant hole is the best idea in the world.  This isn’t too serious, and it’s always fun when he forgets where they are and face plants in an attempt to race across the yard.

The real problem is when it rains.  We haven’t had too much rain in the past year; most people have heard about the drought.  It’s been pretty scary… our neighbor’s well ran dry and we worried about ours too.  This spring has been lovely though, with plenty of rain showers. 

Merlin loves playing in the rain.  Usually he just goes out and runs around and enjoys the freeing feeling of raindrops on his nose.  Occasionally, however, I will look up from whatever I’m doing and find that my dog has mud up to his armpits.  I’ll find muddy footprints all over my kitchen, across my living room carpet, and a giant mud stain in front of the living room door where he lay down to rest after his extracurricular activities. 

Then I have to wrestle with him to get his feet clean, which typically involves him growling at me and trying to take the towel away from me and run outdoors.  After he is clean I have to mop the floor, vacuum the living room, and make sure no mud got on the couch.

There are no photos of all this fun, because I’m too busy chasing around an 82lb muddy dog with a towel while he growls and tries to stay away. 

Maybe when he gets fixed he won’t be such a lunatic.       

Merlin is a dog of leisure and comfort.

Don’t try to tell him he’s ridiculous; he will look at you with an expression that clearly says “You use them too lady.” When I tried to lay on the pillow with him? He proceeded to climb on top of my chest, sit on me, and try to push me out of his way while grumbling and groaning.

My dog is a prima donna.

**At the risk of offering TMI: This is the last picture of Merlin where he will be a complete dog.  He is getting neutered on Friday.  Send sympathies, puppy treats, and many pillows.

They are never long enough are they? The fact that it is Sunday morning just annoys me and makes me wonder where the relaxing time went.

There have been some good things this weekend. I got scrapbook pages in all of my books laid out. I need to get more inserts for the Biltmore album, but everything is laid out. I may actually try to scrap some today.

I got an email from my principal. She was forwarding a message from another counselor, who had written to her telling her that two of the “head honchos” in the testing office were complimenting me and saying who wonderfully I’m doing. My boss said that she wanted to let me know that “other people are noticing the wonderful job I do for our school on a daily basis.” It was incredibly good to hear that feedback; I’ve been really stressed lately, so it helped.

We had a girls/guys night at my friend Sarah’s on Friday night. There was much laughter, good food, and Rock Band. I’m lucky that I have such a good group of friends here, more so in the fact that they are people I work with. It is really wonderful to have that kind of camaraderie with people you have to see and cooperate with daily anyway.

Click on the photo to see all the pictures. Hopefully there will be more later as the other girls share with me.