We are here for a wedding-- Steven's cousins. They are a nice couple. Very fun loving and sane at the same time. She has said a few things that worry me-- she has had cancer three times. There is some sort of little bump on her kidney that she's not dealing with.

Of course, no matter where we go, we meet Steven's old friends. Not related to the wedding, an old coworker just happens to be in Vegas. The sister of a good friend of his just happens to be in Vegas.

A grade school friend of Steven's happened to be in Vegas. We had a short chat with her in the high roller lounge...

"I only use the high-roller area. I don't gamble with the general public."

"My husband is flying to Africa for three weeks. He is going to hunt. I'm not going with him. It's too dangerous for blond haired, blue eyed woman."

I try to not judge people. Sometimes people paint such vivid pictures of themselves in so few words that one can't help but form conclusions.

My friend Tommy seams to be going through something deep. I wish him well.

Steven and I are in Vegas for a few days. We are here for his cousin's wedding. After Vegas we are flying over to Sacramento to visit his parents.

Vegas is fun. Action packed. I think Steven and his brother love the energy, the people, the shows.

I enjoy Vegas very much, but I also need quiet time.

Much of Vegas is made to encourage to drink, to shop, to eat, to spend money. Our hotels rooms are nice. But not so nice that you'd want to lounge around in them for an evening. Even the air is a little stale. I don't know if all that was intentional, but I've had this same experience before.

When we turn our back, the dog has it's own separate life. When we look at her, when we are engaged with her, then she is very attentive. It's different when we turn around.

When we go to bed, she'll be curled up in her bed. When we wake up, she'll be curled up in her bed, but things will have changed. She'll have routed through the garbage. The cat food bowl will be scrupulously licked clean.

I wonder what she does when we leave her alone all day.

As I grow older, I'm still trying to understand my foibles. I'm mostly introverted, except…

I love having dinners with friends. I love cooking for friends. If I'm alone, I'll reheat leftovers. Friends—steak with a sauce that I've spent hour preparing. Home baked bread. The list goes on.

I love sleeping with Steven.

I like spending a few hours alone in the morning.

I enjoy hiking and running alone.

I like to spend evenings with Steven, and with Friends.

Sometimes I think I want to go on a long backpacking trip all by myself. Maybe I'll do that, just to see when I miss people the most.

 

 

 

 

Work. Home. Busyness.

Steven is away for a few days for work. That gives me some down time and it makes me the only one responsible for the dog. She is getting over diareaha, so there is that to keep in mind.

Work is challenging right now. The service my team provides is growing like crazy. Not all of my team members are up to that challenge. They are good people, but the demands have changed and they need to changte with it.

Sometimes I wonder if I am the right leader for them. Work is stressful. I try to tackle it with energy and enthusiasm, but sometimes people think I am too optomistic. 

Still, I will push on.

The weather has been gorgeous this weekend. If this continues, this summer will be a hot one.

Mothers day today. I called mom. She didn't want to talk much. I couldn't tell if something was on her mind, or if this was a further symptom of her memory failure— it's difficult to talk about the week if you don't remember the week. 

I still enjoy talking to her. 

We fly up in July to visit her. 

Happy Mother's Day. 

A townhouse across the street is up for sale for $950,000.00. This has got us talking about our long term plans. 

We had a good talk about our townhouse. The townhouse is nice in many ways, but great in none. The neighborhood is nice. The mortgage is affordable. The space is nice, though cramped in places. Close to shopping. Close to parks. A reasonable commute to work. A nice coffee shop is next door.

We'd like a back yard. A place to hang out. A place to put the dog so we don't have to walk her so often. We'd like a little more space to throw larger dinner parties. Those are tall orders around here. We are looking at $300,000 more than this townhouse to buy such a place.

$300,000 more is a lot. We could retire a few years early with that. We could buy a vacation property.

So we are going to live with the townhouse. Maybe do it up a little. Better closets. Better furniture. Did I mention that the townhouse is very nice?

Two weeks ago in Toronto there was a van attack. A man drove a van into a crowd and killed 10 people.

My friends G&J live 3 blocks away from it. Their son was across the street from the attack. He was at a fast food restaurant. His back was to the window. He didn't see the van attack. He did see the aftermath.

He called G&J to tell them of the attack. G asked him to leave immediately. He did so.

The place was very locked down for over a week. One interesting twist-- the police brought many therapy dogs there. Those going to see the scene of the attack were greeted by cute friendly dogs.