A break

From work! There's a ton to be said for 'vacation' days. There's tons to do here, and I still have some holiday visiting to do, but I don't have to 'go to work'. I'm breathing a sigh of relief. Now, if I could just get out of the Lancaster trip...

The holidays were, well, odd. The oldest kid stayed in her home - as I would have expected. The other kid came very late on Christmas Eve, along with the boyfriend and the grandpuppy. We sort of hung out in the morning, opened gifts, ate breakfast. From there, well, I napped. And baked a chicken. And watched TV. And missed Dakota. Horribly. I opened up one Christmas box to get the kids stockings, and there on top.... Dakota's. My breath caught, and I grabbed what I needed and shut the box.

But I did pick up Dee Dee Jonrowe's "Iditarod Dreams" today. I'd stopped reading it when Dakota passed, but I spotted it on my bookshelf, and found myself opening it. She's quite the woman - a survivor of much. It's where I thought my life would go, to the North, with my dog, and where I thought I'd finally become the woman I wanted to be.

Now I'm not so sure.