It’s only mid-winter…and it’s been a long cruel season already.  First there was the massive layoff at work causing the loss of several really good people from my life.  Then there was the permanent loss of a friend.  And just tonight I learned that Casper de Ghost crossed the rainbow bridge.  And yes I know the loss of a dog I’ve never met is not the same as the loss of a human friend in real life.

But still.  I’m feeling blue.

And I’m looking at the tracks across the back yard with my dog Katie and wishing there were flowers blooming and sun shining and that time could stand still during the good stuff and that we didn’t all have to go through loss after loss after loss and just generally feeling blue.

And somewhere on the television a doorbell dings and Katie flies off the chair we share charging the front door in order to announce danger, in order to protect her house, and, I know, me.

And I have to smile and acknowledge that not everything is lost and even much of what seems lost is not really gone, just somewhere different.

And I go and collect my crazy dog and we sit down to watch some silly sit-coms so that we both can laugh for a little bit and forget about the danger just outside the front door.

And it is good.