PUPPIES!!!

My mother has had a lot of losses in the last couple of years -- the death of my sister, her husband's worsening Alzheimer's disease, the death of her grandson, and now the impending death of her 20-year-old cat, Duncan. At the same time, she has lost a lot of her physical abilities. She can't walk far anymore, even with a cane, and her balance is precarious whenever she stands up. For someone as active as my mother has been all her life, all this is pretty hard to handle.

So, what cheers her up? Puppies. My niece's dog, a boxer mix, just had puppies, and when things start to overwhelm her, Christina puts one of the puppies in her lap. It helps calm and cheer her, and Robbo observed that when she talks about the puppies, my mother seems to have the enthusiasm of an 8-year-old.

"Don't puppies cheer you up?" she asked. "Just think about PUPPIES whenever you get sad."

I had a few moments today where my sadness was so deep I just didn't know where to go. Robbo noticed and chirped, "PUPPIES!!" It made me laugh.

We watched "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" tonight. I love a good comedy, and it helps to ease the pain almost as much as PUPPIES!!!

This was Mike's favorite comedy. When he was 15, we went to rent a movie and he wanted one of the Police Academy movies or something equally sophomoric, and I refused. I spotted "The Holy Grail" and rented it. Michael sulked all the way home and he sat on the couch with his arms crossed and an incredible scowl on his face as I put the movie in. Before the credits were over, he was laughing, and when the movie was over, he rewound it (remember videotape?), took it up to his bedroom and watched it again and again all night long. He could recite entire blocks from it, and at the end of his life, he cited the "Im not dead!" scenes again and again.

I think I've settled on what to get with the garden center gift certificate from the newsroom. I'm going to get a cherry tree. I love the blooms in spring, and I love, love, love fresh cherries. I think it's appropriate to get something that bears food, since Michael loved food so much.

I'd also love to get a big, deep-tone windchime. I love the sound, and if it becomes annoying, well, Mike had that quality about him too.