30-Day Blogging Challenge, Day 15: Something I Miss

Well, here I am, halfway through my 30-day blogging challenge! It’s been good to have a reason to sit down at the computer each day.

Today’s topic is “something I miss”. Rather than one thing, I think I’ll wax nostalgic about a few different things.

Padawan
Padawan

My husband and I adopted Padawan from the local Humane Society back in 1998(ish). He had these short little legs and a big barrel body. The Humane Society guessed that he was half German shepherd and half beagle. He’d been a stray up until then, and boy, he was happy when we brought him home.

Who’s a Good Dog? Not Padawan.

The funny thing about Padawan is that in many ways, he was NOT a good dog. He was a troublemaker, through and through. Padawan was smarter than any dog has a right to be, and he dedicated every bit of those doggy wiles to getting more food. We built elaborate systems to keep him out of the trash, and he managed to bypass every single one of them. He knew how to wait for the perfect distraction (like the doorbell ringing) before snatching food right off the kitchen counter. That scene in Putting Out Fires where Matt plays tug-of-war over a steak with Scooby? I was party to that scene more times than I can count.

Despite his skinny little legs and that fat barrel body, Padawan could jump five-foot fences without batting an eye. He’d often take off down the road, in search of treats. We’d find him by following the trail of tipped-over garbage cans. He once went missing when we were camping in the mountains. We found him about a quarter mile down the road, begging at somebody else’s campfire. (They said, “We knew he wasn’t a stray. He’s too fat for that!”)

One day, Padawan came prancing into the house with a full, raw pork chop in his mouth. The man two houses down was grilling in his back yard, and Padawan managed not only to jump both fences (twice!), but to wait for the perfect moment to snatch that chop so he could bring it home. My husband heard the man telling his wife, “It wasn’t a raccoon! I’m telling you, it was a dog!”

Extra Stubborn

Padawan was also stubborn as hell, and scared of loud noises. If he heard a noise that scared him (a car backfiring, a nail gun, the sudden “Pfff” of an airbrake on a semi) while on his walk, he’d absolutely REFUSE to ever walk that route again. He’d just pull his head right out of his collar and run back home. By the time we moved from the first home we lived in with him, we only had one route we could take on our walks, and I can’t tell you how many times I had to carry that fat little dog home because he refused to take another step. (And he could pull himself free of a harness with the same ease.)

My husband and I have a hundred different stories about the ways this dog made things difficult. But he had personality in spades. His name still comes up at least once a week in our house, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop missing him.

Jon
Very old picture

Jon was my best friend from the time we were thirteen until…. I don’t know when. He was the Maid of Honor in my wedding. Sometime after college, he moved to Phoenix and got married. (And even though they share a name and both live in Phoenix, he has almost nothing in common with my character, Jonathan.)

It’s not like Jon and I ever stopped being friends. It’s just that it’s become hard to keep in touch. His parents no longer live in Colorado, so he has no reason to come back here. I hate talking on the phone, and he hates being on the computer, so we can’t seem to ever settle on a way to communicate. We’ve barely spoken in years, but I still miss him all the time. (And hopefully he won’t kill me for posting this picture from roughly twenty years ago.)

Band

Yes, I was a band geek, and although I don’t miss a single other thing about high school, I do miss playing in the band and orchestra.

Writing

I debated whether or not to list this one.

In some ways, I don’t miss writing at all. In others, I do. I don’t miss the edits or the revisions. I don’t miss the blog tours or the drama. Basically, I don’t miss anything about the way writing has been for the last few years. I guess what I do miss is the way writing was way back in 2009 and 2010, when I just couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and put more words on the page. I had a resurgence of that enthusiasm a couple of summers ago, when I wrote Lost Along the Way and Winter Oranges. But for the most part, it’s been a long time since I felt that kind of enthusiasm for it, and I do miss that sense of purpose.

The Chuck Wagon
Not the actual Chuck Wagon from my youth, but you get the idea.

I spent the first eleven years of my life in Evanston, Wyoming. For just a couple of short months each summer, there was an outdoor restaurant called the Chuck Wagon at the top of the hill. All the cooking was done outdoors in these huge pots over open flames. Most of the seating was outdoor picnic tables, but there were also a handful of tipis and covered wagons with tables in them (I liked the covered wagon tables the best). The food was served on paper or styrofoam plates with plastic cutlery, and you cleaned up after your meal by dumping all your trash into the giant bonfire burning in the center of the space. (This was the late seventies. Nobody was worried about the ozone in those days.)

The thing about the Chuck Wagon is that I still remember exactly the way it smelled as we drove up the hill. For those couple of months, that entire section of town was permeated with the smell of the bonfire mixed with the mouth-watering aroma of pot roast in thick, brown gravy. Man, it was good. If I could go back in time, I’d definitely eat dinner there one last time.

Your Turn

Tell me what you miss!

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