Friday, August 16, 2002

Fridays
Fridays are bittersweet. It's the last day of my workweek, and the beginning of my weekend. I still have to work, yet I will be distracted all day long, because this weekend, we are planning to go to the North Carolina mountains to visit Curtis' sister, Patti. We always enjoy our visit, and the drive is part of the adventure. Once we see those beautiful, tree covered mountains, our spirits begin to soar. People from the west tell me that our mountains are little hills, and when compared to the monoliths in the Rockies, yes, the Smokey Mountains are small, but they are all we have, and we adore them. There are two places that I love to visit, and I don't worry about the size or the quality of either. Those two places are the ocean and the mountains. For me, just listening to the waves as they crash against the shore is restorative. Walking along a mountain path, especially near a waterfall, is like a mini-retreat. We all need our little breaks from normalcy.

Patti and her husband, Brian have a Boxer. Ringo is not their pet, he is their four legged son. Ringo is a very friendly dog, but he generally takes time to get to know people. When I first visited them several years ago, on my meet-the-family tour, I was told only that Ringo was in the house. No one thought to warn me that he generally either shies away from strangers or that he might even snap at newcomers to his territory. I had spent the night there, without meeting him, so the next morning, Patti was holding him by the collar to see what his reaction to me would be. As soon as I saw him, I felt as if I had been reacquainted with an dear, old friend. Ringo licked one hand as I scratched him behind his ears with the other. Suddenly, he laid down, and turned belly up for me to scratch his tummy. Patti squealed with delight and shouted for Brian to hurry downstairs. She explained that Ringo never takes the submissive posture with anyone, not even with them. She said that I had gotten the supreme compliment--the Ringo seal of highest approval. I told her that Ringo gets my stamp of acceptance as well.

To my knowledge, we have no specific plans, other than for Curtis to restore their crashed computer, but just visiting is usually a treat for me. I'll take books to read, and books to write in, and I'll probably have more than enough time for either activity. I know that Monday will come all too soon, and we will have to return to our work-a-day lives, but the best thing about Monday, is if you look at them backwards, they are only one day away from the weekend. Looking forward, Mondays are a mere four days from Fridays. As long as I do the math in a creative fashion, there's actually nothing wrong with Mondays!

posted by Unknown at 8/16/2002 08:50:00 AM