Backward and forward

Note: This post has nothing to do with my books, appearances, or professional updates. Skip if you’re only looking for business news.

The first week of November is always a time of reflection for me. If you're a long-time follower of my blog, you might remember that five years ago, I went to the Emergency room because I thought I was having a heart attack. It turned out to be an acute case of costochrondritis instead, but for a few hours, I thought I might drop dead at any second. As you can imagine, that had me praying fervently for more time with my loved ones.

It turned out that there was nothing seriously wrong with me, and aside from the occasional ache, I'm over the costochrondritis. I'm not over my gratitude to still be here, though, so every year around the same time, I say a special thank-you to God. Why on my blog? As I mentioned once before, a section of Luke has always stuck with me. In it, ten lepers ask Jesus to be healed. All ten have their request granted, but while nine ran off, one turned around, went back to Jesus, and thanked him. The other nine might have been thanking Him in their mind as they walked away, but only one made a point to do it publicly. So, this is me turning around, going back to that memory, and saying thank you in public because I'm still very grateful to be here to do so. 

I'm also a sucker for my dogs, as anyone who knows me is well aware. My husband and I spoil them, and they take it as their due because in their eyes, this is what we exist to do ;). Well, in the past month we've both sold our old house and bought a new house. One of our requirements for the new house was that the master bedroom be on the first floor because Gypsy, at almost 13, can't climb the stairs anymore and she sleeps in the bedroom with us (so does Loki, of course. In fact, he hogs the bed.) We looked at a bunch of houses and found one that we loved (yay!) that had enough of a deal on the price that we could also afford to get all new paint and carpet (yay!) and the master bedroom is on the first floor as needed (yay!)

But...the other bedrooms are on the second floor. As a writer, I work out of my house, and I normally just take the guest room and use it as my office, but I can't do that now because of the stairs. Gypsy is used to coming and going from my office at will. Well, to be more accurate, she comes in, whimpers until I stop what I'm doing and pet her, then either leaves or curls up on the pillow by my desk. This is her routine several times a day, and I can't bring myself to change it by using one of the upstairs bedrooms for my office. She would NOT understand . Don't believe me? Does this look like a dog who would understand her daily pets being denied to her? 




This is how I have ended up having my office in what is supposed to be the dining room of my new house. It's closed off by three walls, so it's more private that the living room, plus we're getting one of those nice, decorative screens for the opening to the kitchen to close that off, too. It will, however, have a space for Gypsy to get in and out of easily. As you can see, she's used to getting her wishes catered to ;).

And hey, we never ate in our old dining room anyway.