This post is full of good things only. I think we need some of that.

First of all, I like you. I think you’re great. I know you’ve got a lot going on and you’re doing it beautifully. You are good. You are worthy. You will do the thing!

A Disgusting Love Story

My boy cat, Ellis, gets horribly car sick. We found this out with four adults and both cats in the car on the way to my parents’ house in preparation for our wedding. We did our best, for him–kitty happy pills, a bathroom break, and most importantly, both cats in one carrier. We thought, what with the bodily fluids all over the place, the incessant mewling, and his ongoing anxiety attack, that Lily–a former feral cat–might resent her brother and eventually try to do something about it.

And eventually she did. Covered in bile and drool, she grabbed her brother’s scruff and gently licked his face, purring while she cleaned him the last ten miles of the trip.

Madam of Honor Speech

This is the speech I gave at my sister’s wedding:

Hello all, thank you so much for being here today.  I am Allison, and as you may have determined with your crack detective work, I am Joanna’s sister.  She’s the younger one, thank you for asking!  Though we are sisters, there have always been a few things that were distinctly our own.  Joanna is kind, and fun, and genuine, always.  She also hates when I talk about her.

Then there are the things in which we are defined by our opposing strengths and weaknesses. She loves coconut.  I’m not sure why we eat them.  Her paint night paintings look like she stole the original, mine look like I painted it with my toes.  And when I say farewell to someone in broad daylight I opt for the traditional “goodbye” while Joanna mixes it up a little with “good night.”

And then there are the traits we both share.  My family tends to love quickly and deeply and so it wasn’t a surprise when she too fell in love with her first serious boyfriend, and married him.  It wasn’t terribly surprising that she too picked someone from Massachusetts, but it was definitely a happy coincidence that she found someone who was also my long time friend.  I’ve known Matt almost half my life now, and I don’t think I could have asked for a better partner for my little sister.  So you see, while all weddings are occasions of joy, this one is extra special.  Today, I get to witness two of my best friends marrying their best friends, and I’m not sure I can contain any more happiness for them than I do right now.  So, congratulations, Matt and J, here’s to a lifetime of perfect bliss.

An excerpt from Sacrifice

“Just once, just once I’d like to be able to make a plan, execute it, and roll out like big shots.”

“And I would just like a shot,” Lia says with a little smile.  “Come on. This is kind of funny. Like…is this not what you picture when you think ‘li’in awn tuh bayou?’ ” she drawls with a decent impression of the local “dat” accent.

I sigh.  “Well, then Cthulhu should rise any second, if it’s supposed to look how it looks in my head.”

“Pessimism ages you, Summer.  We’re winners. Let me see your winner smile.”

I shake my head at her as I regard the death trap masquerading as a dwelling.  “I’m going in fully loaded. If we need to cross that threshold, I’m going to be ghost repellant.  And witch proof.  And toxic to humans.”

“Oh good, so you’ll be lovely in confined spaces, is what you’re saying.”

That makes me laugh, despite my mood.  

“You won’t be able to smell me over your own stink.  I am not battling a Loch Ness monster to save you because you didn’t wanna smell like garlic.”

“Summer, do we need to have a talk about your prepper nature again?” Lia asks with mock condescension.

“We do not,” I say loftily.

“So, then you’re actually going to leave most of this here, right?”

“I am not,” I say in the same tone.

 

I don’t have a picture for this, so enjoy this bird, who is living its best life.

 

Have a laugh, have a cry, and have, above all else, a great week!