A Dog named 'Needle'

I was going to write this post in Hindi, as this is now an option in Blogger, but I thought I'd better consider my English speaking friends first.

So, this post is dedicated to my dog, CODY. No, he is not dead, and no, his name is not needle. But this weekend I had a new experience. Some of you may or may not know, but Cody was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Who knew?! So now, this 'gold' dog, as my dad likes to call him, gets insulin shots twice a day with a strict diet. No chopped liver for him. My mom decided that this weekend would be a good time for me to learn how to give him a shot. I am no veterinarian... nor am I a dog whisperer. It is quite the process... needless to say, my mom ended up taking over. Who wants to stab a needle in a dog?

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not afraid to do it. I pride myself in doing 'manly' jobs around the house... killing spiders, doing manual labor like lifting our hatch door, which weighs a gazillion tons, hanging lights on our 9 foot ceiling... However, injecting a little dog with a needle takes talent. I mean, I think it is a valuable skill to learn. I mean, druggies do it everyday. People needing epi-pens. Giving or taking blood. But no one said it would be easy.

So until my next needle lesson...

Cheers to Cody! He has survived a lot. He has survived a lot of self-inflicted trauma, BUT he has come out resilient. And he is still a smart cookie. I taught him his tricks with cheerios: lay down, dead dog, dead dog to 'bang,' shake a paw, high five, jump, putting food in front of him and making him wait to eat it, and much, much more.

Thanks CODY, for many a happy time. You truly are man's best friend.

Roasting Sticks and Crosses

Ahh! The injustice of it all!

Have you ever had one those awful, climatic points in your life where it feels like you are being roasted alive on a stick? Yesterday was my moment. What a roast.

• This is how it all began...
  

I took the opportunity to try out the 'shorter' way home for Easter. It would have been shorter. It probably would have been faster. I probably would have had a nice relaxing drive home, signed the Vulcan guest book etc etc... BUT I GOT PULLED OVER!

I noticed a lot of cops out, so I made sure to watch my speed. I came up over a hill however, and saw two cop cars with someone else they had pulled over in between them. I slowed down... and as the image began to fade away in my rear-view mirror, I saw a flash of lights. I pulled over. Out comes this swanky cop. I honestly had no idea why he had stopped me. He asks for my license and insurance and gives my a short blurb... I look up and ask, "what did you say?!" Basically he told me I had been going 80 past a flashing emergency vehicle. The speed is supposed to be 60. I said, 'What?! I didn't know that!"

He came back, handed my the stupid yellow speeding ticket. I looked at it: "$280!!! Where is this law? Is it in the driving manual? I didn't know about this law." He told me it was this new law made up in Fall 2005. He told me I could argue it in court. His face was stone cold.

Of all things, he walks away and what do I say? 'Thank you.' You know, I was one of those stupid people who say thank you to a cop for giving them a ticket. I am too freakin' polite.

I didn't cry then right then. However, it certainly built up to be my emotional release of the month. I cried in my car for the next hour home. My mom would have told me to pull over and cry. It wasn't just the ticket. It was life. One of those awful moments where you feel like all you've been doing is trying your hardest. Things finally come unraveled. These are the most painful moments. You invest so much into life, and then it all seems to ca-puts. It might sound overly dramatic, but I am ok with that.

• Revelation on Pain and Suffering

Sometimes we joke about being too emotional- but if we can show all of our joy, why not show all of our pain? Pain just shows that we feel. We have felt and lived life. It is the Easter Holiday- and as we remember Christ on the cross- we see God our Father, who loves us beyond reason. His deepest expression of love was in his deepest experience of pain.

• Picture

I was looking through a friend's album on facebook once. She had just arrived in a foreign country for the next month. She took a picture of herself crying. It stuck with me. I had my camera handy, so I took a picture of myself. The tears had ceased for the moment. The picture says a thousand words, or at least a couple hundred...

• Happy Easter!

I am back on the road. Alive and kicking. Life is good. I take it moment by moment through God's grace. I have a smile on my face. The sun is shining... the wind is at my back!