Persistence

A week in which I once again became a veterinary technician. The promised update on last week’s vomiting extravaganza is a good news/bad news one: my ten-pound titan has completely recovered from cholangitis (the nasty liver/gallbladder/bile duct infection that necessitated hospitalization and a temporary feeding tube) and now has pancreatitis. Which may or may not be (probably is) due to my exuberance, despite my inexperience, as a canine chef (a perfect example of the Dunning-Kruger effect). Who knew what a little dietary fat would do to my special snowflake?

His blanket rejection of any type of dog food means that my culinary adventures are a permanent thing. And we both refuse to say uncle. He’s doing what he does best (making a miraculous comeback), and I’m once again recalibrating while working on forgiving myself (and trying to graciously accept being tethered to home after such a brief reprieve).

Ways I Found Joy This Week

Watching the wonder dog once again overcome the odds

Resolving a major, years-long car insurance snafu

Getting a phone call from a dear friend just when it mattered most

Reading in the shade while the dog sunned himself nearby on a gorgeous afternoon

Every minute of Bad Bunny’s half-time show

A surprise breakfast visit from the CWP

Successfully troubleshooting my malfunctioning freezer and, it seems (fingers crossed), fixing it myself

Attending a trunk show to benefit women in recovery

Things I Learned This Week

How to cook for a dog with pancreatitis

More about the life of Dorothy Parker (fun fact: she left her estate to MLK, Jr., and on his death, to the NAACP)

To give myself a break; that it doesn’t all, always, depend on me, and that I’m doing a pretty good job

About Belgium during World War II

How to repair my freezer’s clogged water line

To remember Maya Angelou’s astute observation that every storm runs out of rain.

Quotes That Resonated This Week

in conquering her mind,

she learned not to silence it;

she taught it a new language,

one of compassion, one of power.

Billy Chapata

The only thing more powerful than hate is love.

Bad Bunny

That’s enough to piss off a saint.

My dad, who was born 99 years ago today

What I Watched This Week

Interview With the Vampire (the movie). Agreed to do some comparative analysis with the CWP. My take: even if I weren’t creeped out by Tom Cruise in general, this 1994 version is seriously inferior to the current series by any measure.

The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix). One of my favorites. And yes, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo makes me stupid. But the plot and pacing are also great. Season 4 does not disappoint on either count.

Will Trent (Hulu)

High Potential (Hulu).

What I Read This Week

Dorothy Parker: Complete Stories.

Good Material, by Dolly Alderton. A hilarious look at the Mars/Venus divide through the lens of a relationship breakup.

33 Place Brugmann, by Alice Austen. Follows the denizens of a Brussels apartment house as World War II begins. Lots of love in all of its forms, and courage.

Women Who Run With the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. A re-read of this classic covering the archetype of the wild woman.

Fine Young People, by Anna Bruno. A “good girl” opens Pandora’s box when she digs into a decades-old mystery that still reverberates at her Catholic prep school.

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Thanks for reading!