Good things about today

All the animals are well, including the primates.

My late Christmas gift is here--a sewing machine. I have not sewn in many years, and am looking forward to starting again.

I had a day off.

I've made several new friends over the last few months.

Invitations to do good things are coming in.

Soul report

Soul's tumor was cancer. The margins were clean. If it was the only one, he will be OK. If there are others we haven't found yet, he won't be. We won't know unless or until the next one shows up--or until he eventually dies of something else.

Really, I don't know anything today that I didn't know yesterday, or anything I didn't know before we found the lump. I knew that all lives end, and that the lives of dogs are shorter than those of humans. I knew I'd most likely outlive Soul.

What I know today is a little more about how he might die, and that it may be even sooner than I thought. It's surprisingly hard to take.

My job remains the same: to take responsibility for my life and live it as well as I can, loving and giving care to those around me.

Teach us to number our days, O Lord.