My mental health has been all over the map since mid-March. Tomorrow is May 1st, which among other things, means I need to listen to Lusty Month of May from Camelot. But beyond that, I have now been sheltering in place/staying home/on lockdown/socially distancing - whatever we want to call that, I've been doing that for six weeks.
It's tiring, it's restful. It's irritating and soothing. It's every thing under the sun, and nothing much.
And some days, you just have to look for some little thing to keep you energized.
Yesterday, that was cake. And not just any cake, but a birthday cake. I made Piper a cake because according to the microchip company, her date of birth was April 29, 2014. Since I had a can of icing, and a box of cake mix, well, I made a cake.
It is a yellow cake - with white icing that I dyed pink - plus grape jelly beans. Fabulously decadent and beautifully decorated.
It's tiring, it's restful. It's irritating and soothing. It's every thing under the sun, and nothing much.
And some days, you just have to look for some little thing to keep you energized.
Yesterday, that was cake. And not just any cake, but a birthday cake. I made Piper a cake because according to the microchip company, her date of birth was April 29, 2014. Since I had a can of icing, and a box of cake mix, well, I made a cake.
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| Fancy AF |
Piper got a little bit last night, and a tiny dab of frosting with her breakfast this morning. She's a great sport, and she deserved it.
My point is - you have to celebrate. Six years on this planet is a lot. She has been with us for five years and three months of that. CELEBRATE. Make a cake, send a card, call someone. Be glad for the little things, the big things. ALL THE THINGS. St. Patrick's Day? Celebrate it. Solstice - bring it! Easter, sure? Orthodox Easter, why not? Cinco de Mayo coming up? Muy bueno, amigos!!!
The world is amazing. Celebrate all of it.
Don't necessarily make cake for all of it - you'll get the sugar diabetes. But we're only here for a short time, so let's get out there and make it as festive as possible. That's it.
Now, I know a lot of folks think that after this life, you live on in Heaven (or Hell, depending). But, y'all - what if heaven is right here, right now, and we're all focused on some distant future to enjoy everything right in front of us?
That's why I made a fat pink cake for a skinny black dog who doesn't even know she's six. She doesn't even have a concept of aging, or the number six, or a 365 day year, or any of that. She's just happy to have a yard to run in and birds to chase and grass to eat, then barf up. She knows that bed and couch are comfortable, and that food goes in her bowl, and that it feels good when we scratch her at the base of her tail - that little fat meat that's part ass, part back. She knows that when I call her name it's negotiable, and when Matt calls her name, it's business. She knows which dogs she wants to play with, which ones to bark at, and that if she barks long enough we drag her inside.
But I know all of that, and that we have a limited time with her for all those things to happen, so I made a cake.
And I scratch her tailbuttback.
Honestly, if it never got better than this, right here, right now - it would still be FREAKING AMAZING.
That's my sermon for today.
ae
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