Lick My Nose? Please?

Looking around the Strange But True news of today I found an article about a man saved when his dog called 911. Yes, that's right, his dog called 911. Yet this wasn't the part of the article that caught my attention as being the extra special characteristic ofthe dog. Read the last paragraph and tell me that you don't wish all pets could be this accurate about how sick we are. Really? I wonder what the training for this must have looked like.

So in other strange but true news, I made a mistake on my SSN when I opened an ING Savings Account, so I will have to print out a W-9 form and either fax it or mail it in to them a.s.a.p. What a ridiculous hassle over one little number, but this was totally my fault. I rush far too often and end up making rather dumb mistakes that will cost me time and energy in the end. I need to learn to slow down and take my time.

Also I.'s mom is getting married this weekend (which could also be part of the reason that we're bonking heads). I don't know how I. feels about this in the truest sense, maybe she doesn't even know. I think it's going to be a very good thing for I.'s mom since the man she's marrying seems to be a very nice, loving guy. It makes me wish that my mom would start dating. In some ways it seems ironic to me that my dad has begun to date again and my mother hasn't, seeing as how she was the one to ask him to leave. Lots of people who have parents that split up, either openingly or subconciously, hope that their parents will realize the mistake and come back to each other. This happens very little, which is sad for the kids that keep hoping and never get that wish. Unlike all of them, I have never held this wish. Maybe it's because my mom split from someone who was not my biological father and even though he raised me and I consider him Dad more than anyone else by far, this biological bond was never formed and therefore there is no need for me to see them together. I want them to be happy. I still talk to both my parents, they still advise me, and I still go to either of them when I'm having problems that I can't solve on my own. It makes little or no difference to me that one lives 200 miles away and the other 20 feet. When my dad told me that he was dating someone I was really happy for him, the only worry about timing that I had is that since he had the emotional maturity of a 6 year-old when he and my mother split, did he really have enough time in the three years between to grow up 30 some-odd years? In the end, it mattered not, he broke up with her when he realized that she wanted something a lot more serious than he did, maybe he did grow up?

Mom, on the other hand, has been asked on a date recently. As always we ended up in the car for a couple of hours discussing the pros/cons, the worries she had, and whether or not I thought it was a good idea. Mom has come to me for advice since I was 13 or 14. Most of the time I don't mind it at all, it's just part of our relationship. She asks me what to do about my younger brother and I tell her to kill him, simple. But this one was a lot more complicated. I don't want to see my mother get hurt, but I think it would be dreadfully sad to see her alone for the rest of her life. Or even for the next couple of years. She likes this guy who asked her out (which is rather odd to see my mom getting a little anxious about a guy) and she wants to go out and see where this could go, but she doesn't trust that he could really like her because of her weight. That's the only thing that prevents her from knowing that he'll like her, every other worry she has is associated with whether or not she's ready and whether or not it's worth it. Frankly, I think that there's part of you that's never ready after heartbreak, but its that part of you that you put aside and take the plunge. It's like standing on the edge of the cliff and no matter how long you stand there, there will always be part of you that wonders if you jump whether you'll make it safely to the bottom, it's only when you put that part of you aside and take the chance that that part doesn't matter and therefore doesn't exist anymore.

So in helping my mom get to a weight where she feels comfortable to see this guy or any guy for that matter, I have agreed to go to the gym twice a week with her. Who knows maybe this will help me shake the cloud of depression that seems to be getting stronger the longer I don't get called about a job and the longer that I'm not playing any sports. So bring on the gym and hopefully we'll get to the point where I will allow this guy to date my mom.