Happy Holidays

I’m sure similar to most of you, we found 2010 to be a very busy year. But no matter the activity, the accomplishment, the ups or the downs, 2010 will always be remembered by us as the “Year of the Great Anal Gland Incident.” (Yes, with his lion sized pride, Diego-san is horrified that I would even mention the incident in our annual holiday letter and suspects I only do so because it’s not often that you can include the word “anal” in a holiday letter.) Suffice it to say, it was touch and go there for a while, and our after midnight visit to the U of M’s veterinary clinic was followed by a week of nursing him back to health in an isolated room of the house where he had the indignity of wearing one of those plastic cones around his neck so he couldn’t lick his butt. The whole alone time period gave us a lot of time to bond and he’s been extra cuddly ever since.

Of course Theo spent the entire week outside the closed door crying that he couldn’t get into the room. He sure does like to be a part of everything, and usually is. One of my favorite moments of the day continues to be when I get home, and Theo gets all excited (probably because he knows his next meal is just around the corner). He hops up on the kitchen table while I sort the day’s mail and he licks my arms and hands. He then follows me up the stairs where I hug and praise him if he’s done his one job for the day: ensuring that the towels in the bathroom are still hanging on the rack (tee hee we also used the word “rack” in our holiday letter…) and not lying on the floor.

I was surprised that Thompson didn’t seem too alarmed by the “Great Anal Gland Incident.” He’s usually a stickler for routine, and he also usually is quite fond of Diego-san. He seemed fine with all the alone time, ate his meals like usual, and didn’t seem at all curious about what was going on behind closed doors. My favorite times with Thompson remain those where we take a nap together. He’s the greatest napper I’ve ever met. He likes to lie on the side of his missing leg, so he can get his chest and face as close to mine as possible without the obstruction of a limb. I know he’s really into his nap when his deep purr turns into a snore.

The bulk of my year was spent colored by the ever increasing sound of the ringing in my left ear. When I visited a doctor to try to address the ringing, the first thing the doctor told me was, “There are support groups for this type of thing” meaning a cure was probably not in the cards. The ringing only bothers me when I’m trying to listen to something or when I think, so some would say those incidences rarely occur. The one relief I have found is I can’t hear the ringing if I’m singing at the top of my lungs. My officemates (or the boyz for that matter) don’t always appreciate this. I also had surgery to remove a lump on my tongue. During the recovery time, I learned that the tongue is one of the quickest healing organs, and also one of the moistest. It wasn’t like I needed to taste food or anything…

But enough about our aches and pains. I was very happy to put nearly 4,000 miles on my scooter this year. I think I would have been happier if I actually put those miles on in a straight line rather than going around in circles and getting nowhere. When I wasn’t scooting, curling, playing softball, or enjoying a quiet moment with the boyz, I was busy working on my next novel tentatively called, “I See Ballots in My Sleep.” It’s a story about a young boy and his love of counting things.

We all hope you have a great holiday season and enjoy 2011 to the max. We’re crossing our fingers and hoping we’ll get lucky and be able to name 2011 after a private body part as well.