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Today I discovered that my St. Anthony medal is no longer around my neck. I haven't taken it off in almost two years...the last time I did, terrible things happened. I like to think I am not supersticious, but I am. Where did it go, and how does this relate to Ray's death? How could a chain get off my neck, without my knowledge? Do I need a new one?

All I know is that I am ready to go home, and I am really looking forward to the weekend. I thought I would wait a year before I went back to Seattle, and try to get my mind around being somewhere else. My brother's empty cabin outside of Centralia made it really easy to meet my friends halfway, and they have been really great about coming here.

But the idea of avoiding going home for a full year seems ridiculous now. I am ready to eat good Indian food, I misss the ocean, and I really want to be around people that I have known longer than 9 months.

Adieu

How do I say goodbye the greatest cat who ever lived? He had more character in one paw than most people do.

Ray was doing so great until about a week ago, when one of his fangs became so loose it was difficult for him to eat. I made an appointment to have it pulled, but he took an abrupt turn for the worse before then, and it was just clear that it was time to go. I had him checked out before I did something I didn't think I could ever do, and put him to sleep. The vet thought that had fractured his jaw yet again, and the only thing that could be done was to was to apmutate half of it. I just couldn't do that to him.

Merci to the folks at Dove Lewis, who went way above and beyond what they needed to do, both in terms of the care they gave Ray, and the support they gave me.

I stayed with Ray throughout the procedure, and he went out purring, which was very much his style.

Smile!

Very few things annoy me more than when people, and particularly strangers, come up and tell me to smile. This happens to me at work several times a week.

I am rarely in a bad mood when this occurs, I just happen to be concentrating, because, well, I am at work, and I guess I don’t concentrate and smile at the same time. But if I was in a bad mood, having somebody come up and command me to smile would not make me feel any better. I’d probably want to hit them.