I am sitting in the floor right now, finishing up last-minute work with my students before the new week begins. I am sitting in the floor instead of on our sofa because Bairre wanted my spot. I didn’t have the hear to tell him no, so I got up and went to the floor and took this picture of him. Isn’t he beautiful? Isn’t he spoiled?
It’s okay though because I am now closer to the wood stove. Though the dry heat seems to wreak havoc on my skin, I adore the fire. So does our kitty, Betty. She is right next to me, and she is doing the cutest thing ever.
She is on her back with her paws kind of in the air. Every now and then, she literally kneads the air. I love her little pink feet. Betty loves the wood stove more than I can express. I love her and love the fact that she gets to spend her winter days by the wood stove more than I can express.
We had a tough week here. Mostly just parenting stuff, and then there’s the big stuff that looms. Reading about the fires in LA, well, you know how it is. It’s just hard to see it all happening exactly the way scientists said it was going to happen. It’s like the knowing and not doing anything about it is just salt in the wound. I can’t imagine how devastated the poor people and animals are who live there.
And parenting is such hard work, but I swear, parenting a teen is the most work. It’s like, you can start to see where the holes are, and you are trying desperately to patch them before your teen is grown and on their own–and it’s too late. .
But progress on the parenting front was made, and I have good friends for support. Boudica just came up to give me kisses. Then, she gave me the Pyr Paw and very appropriately typed a B on the keyboard. I’m so thankful for these animals. It’s okay if there are holes in their raising. It’s okay that Bairre is a little too spoiled.
In fact, it’s magnificent that he’s a little too spoiled.
There is so much here that we are all experiencing in different ways. thank you for putting all of this out there for your readers. My children are grown, but now there are grandchildren and so many other kids who need love and support (including the grown ones 🙂
It’s so true that even the grown ones need love and support. I just read a short essay with a take on self love about how how we are supposed to love ourselves, which is certainly important, but the essayist asserted that we need a community of love too, that it shouldn’t be us doing it all by ourselves, and that really resonated with me.
We are going to have to seek out our own supportive communities and nurture them in the challenging days ahead.
So much yes to this! I am so introverted that this is a challenge, but I have been taking steps since November and am thankful for the progress!