Bright Skies

So, as usual it’s been busy, busy, busy.

So what’s going on with ABM?

I have taken every Friday I’m not traveling off thru the end of the year. It feels good, productive and restful. I will need to pull some long days to catch up/keep up, but it’s worth it. It is a gift. That’s led to more social plans and enjoying the end of summer. I even got to a beach! I dated. I went to concerts and rodeos. I got creative time for my Etsy store. #BarkleysPetCloset

I’m going to spend a month abroad next year, trying on a retirement fantasy with Yappy in tow. It’s a big undertaking, I want to just get a taste, see if my instincts are right. I just want to live more. I’m really serious about whether i want to work beyond another 5 years. I want to be free.

And I need folks to understand I mean that in my soul.

I’m feeling like I am on the tipping point of something else entirely, something that centers my creative brain, which has felt constrained in recent years. Yeah.

I just want to be free.

Yappy gets his own update because he turns 9 tomorrow, and I love him so much. I’m guessing my therapist would say we have a codependent relationship, and she would probably not be wrong. He has really taken to trying to express himself using his buttons. I recently duplicated a subset of his buttons in my bedroom. He’s not using them himself yet, but they immediately get his attention.

Well Yappy has taken to non-stop begging for treats. I might just turn that button off. He bosses me about going to bed despite the fact that he could just ask for cuddles which is what he really wants. And this precious pup who rarely barked seems to think I understand Bark. I do not.

We finally identified the perfect bed for this senior dog. He now has 3 of them. He also had stairs in every room—and this is how picky he is: I avoided the foam stairs due to cost. Bought the first set. He refused to use them. Sent them back. Ordered a different set. Sent them back. Bought a set off FB Marketplace. I swear he cursed me. I finally ordered the foam stairs, and he proceeded to use them un-coaxed.

Let’s say, Yappy is living well.

And then there’s Hope.

After my own frustration and breakdown around how Hope reacted to my insistence that she propel forward. I’m glad I gave us two weeks until the follow up meeting that I scheduled. We needed that time to cool off and refocus. When we met, we were on the same page, we stayed focused and we had homework.

It was the most productive time I’ve had with Hope in forever. And last week’s meeting was half the time, as we ticked off what was accomplished, what a financial capacity goal to work toward might be, and set a to do list. It was so good.

Last week she texted me through a financial decision she was making. I didn’t offer any help, just listened/read. As she got close to the end, I let her know how proud I was of her. Her decision making was well reasoned and defensible. But a year ago when the angry darkness hung over our home like an Edgar Allen Poe piece. I told her that I would have let her lose everything a year ago,

We were barely hanging on.

And to see her now,,.? I’m so proud of her. Ridiculously so.

And beyond that we don’t see a lot of each other. We work at overlapping schedules. Time together is fun and genuine. I’m grateful for that.

So, we good over, round here. 😊