Life has been great lately. Aside from getting sick and straining a muscle, I have managed to get back to my normal running routine and I am now a member of the local yoga center.
I haven’t made any friends yet, but having an adorable puppy has led to
lots of random conversations with strangers. And that my friends… MAKES ME FEEL NORMAL AGAIN! :)
Who knew human interaction would be so exciting. You’d think I’ve been stuck in the pen
(that’s gangster for penitentiary) for YEARS!
Mosley a.k.a. Mosie,
Mose, Mosie-Wosie, Puppy, Puppy Love, and Puppy-Luppy (no wonder the dog
doesn’t answer when I call) has been quite the little human attraction lately. Whether we’re walking the greenbrier
river trail or picking out fresh pumpkins and tomatoes from the farmer’s
market, the pups (yet another name) attracts people like a magnetic force field. One man, who stopped me on the river
trail to tell me about his daughter who has a yorkie, recognized me
in Kroger and actually said HELLO!
(SCORE ONE FOR PUP!)
I haven't randomly bumped into ANYONE that recognized me in the 3 ½ months I have lived here. That
was a good feeling.
People know me. I don’t only exist in my head. NICE.
Puppy has entered my life at the perfect timing. J has started studying for boards, and I have been pretty sick lately. Last week I had strep throat, and managed to strain a muscle
in my back at yoga class. I could not
comfortably sit, eat, sleep, lie, or stand for three days. The doctor gave me a heavy dose of muscle relaxers for my back, and for
someone who passes out at the mere sight of Benadryl; it was quite a hilarious
adventure! Puppy kept me
entertained and cuddled with me during the lonely recovery. It was nice.
Story:
J has a friend doing the GTA (graduate teaching assistant)
program here. In an effort to give me a little more human interactions than
Kroger, we all met up for dinner this past Friday night. I’d been in pain all day, but kept
resisting the muscle relaxer.
Around 6pm, I decided I couldn’t fight the pain anymore (I was also sick of standing like the hunchback of Notre Dame). We met for dinner at 7pm, and
everything was going well. I was
actually holding my own, and I felt pretty dang good. I decided to order a glass of Pino. (You see where this is going, right?)
One glass of Pino + flexeril + Cap = me developing a severe eye twitch,
a toddler’s attention span, and a very hungry tummy. I would make a hilarious drug addict.
After a plate of stuffed ravioli, chicken parm, 2
breadsticks, AND a slice of strawberry cheesecake (and 3 hours of board exam
talk), I WAS A HOT MESS!
I attempted going to the bathroom after 3 hours of
uncomfortable sitting, and SERIOUSLY could not straighten my back. Please take a moment to picture it…
A drunk, 5’1” girl
with high wedges (this decision was made right when the flexeril kicked in obviously), an eye twitch, and a back
warp 1000x’s worse than Quasimodo trying to make it to a bathroom that was
LITERALY on the complete opposite side of the restaurant and down a wheel chair
ramp. I did all this while trying (and failing) to look normal.
HOT MESS, PEOPLE!
Also, during the long blur of a dinner… we apparently made
arragements to do it all (minus flexeril) again this weekend.
This means I have to show my face again to these very same people. (HOLLA!) <-- That’s white girl for not cool.
So back to my post about how life with puppy has come at the perfect time…
J has officially started the never-ending trek of stressing
for boards. Granted, I’m no med
school student (thankfully), but starting to stress about something that is
literally 8 months away makes me want to pluck my eyeballs out.
Last night, while I’m peacefully laying in bed saying my
prayers and thinking about political debates, puppy, and how many cups of
coffee I’ll have in the morning, J says… “Cap, do you realize boards are in
JUNE?! I ordered a Q bank online
today and I will have 3,007 questions I have to complete. Then, W says there is another bank I should get with 2,100
questions (thanks W), AND I worked out this plan where if I work 20 questions a
day every morning… I can finish them all before June. I’m going to start tomorrow. W also says I should start taking practice board exams once
a week in May, so that will take up about 6 hours a week on top of the
questions I’m already doing.”
HUH? I was only on my second cup of
imaginary coffee when you started that stress rant….
“J, RELAX! It’s OCTOBER! I fully believe you should indeed start preparing yourself for
board exams, but maybe you should hold the stress level down a notch until… I don’t know… maybe MARCH?”
This whole second year bit is going to be a hard one. I’m thankful pup is around to talk to
me, because I will obviously not have a hubs for quite a while.
First year had it's troubles. With getting acclimated to living 1000 miles away, snow, and J working on cadavers, but that all seems like a magical Disney vacation compared to the feelings I have towards 2nd year.
so this whole story is amazing, but my favorite part is what you said about someone recognizing you. That happened to me recently, and I couldn't quite put into words how exciting it was. You said it perfectly! I don't only exist in my head!
ReplyDeleteCap,
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm a bit partial but I do find you quite entertaining. I wish I could come for a cup of coffee or a play date with Puppy Luppy in the snow. I do, however, have something on its way to you that might even be better than an afternoon with Mom. Be looking for it..... sent it out yesterday. I love you!
P.S. Hope you're feeling better - sorry you were sick