Remembrance & Facing a Hard Truth

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So, for today's post, I'm actually just going to refer to my photoblog's latest entry, because it explains what I'm feeling, as this is always a kind of emotional day of remembrance for me.  It's been twenty-three years since the OKC Bombing took place at 9:02am, and I will always remember that day like it just happened yesterday.  As it says in that post, I can still hear my pup (😢) barking immediately afterwards, and feel the slight shaking of my house when it happened.  (I lived about 13 miles away at the time.)  I don't think I will ever not be able to remember those things.

Anyway... yesterday during the episode of Party of Five that I was watching on my lunch break, I involuntarily broke down crying and had to immediately hug Dozer (because he was out of his crate at the time), while watching the difficult scene of the siblings having to make the impossible decision to end their family dog's life.  And again, it took me right back to my past, to January 10, 2011 when my family had to make the same impossible decision.  And Mari's death at the end of 2016, when we weren't even able to be here to say a proper goodbye to her.  It also got me thinking about our other Irish setter and great dane, and how they are both getting too close to their later years, especially Dozer, who is already 5½ years old and his earliest life expectancy is only 3 more years.  😭  Death just sucks, to put it bluntly.

Ah, but I need to stop thinking about all that right now and get back to work.  So that's all I have for today.  Until tomorrow...

Got My (Photography) Fix!

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Well, today has been busy!  The photo above is from the highlight of my day: our visit to the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco, of the koi pond, specifically! (full-view recommended!)  It was so beautiful and so much fun to finally get my photography fix taken care of.  And by that, I mean actually taking pictures with my camera, not only with my phone.  The last time we took a photography trip was last month in Tahoe, but I never really got to use my camera, because of the snow and the precarious conditions that entailed.  Which was for the best, since I did end up slipping about five times. (haha)  But this was great.  And just what I needed!  It wasn't as serene as I'd expected, because there were too many people there, but it was pretty.  One of my favorite things is just being outside with my Nikon, taking photos of anything & everything I see around me.  So I'm happy now. 😁📷

Queue the Butterflies

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-slowly inhales a large breath and exhales-

So.  I've officially completed the story and submitted it.  Which means the butterflies in my stomach will be wreaking havoc until Sunday when the winner is announced.  I'm slightly bummed though, because when I copied it into the game's mailing system, it was too long.  There was a length requirement that it had to fit within one page of mail, and no more than that.  So I had to majorly skim it down, keeping only the vital information needed.  But I did keep a copy of the original FULL story, which I will share here after the contest is over, since I can't post it until then.  Sooo look for that on Sunday's entry! 😁

I also updated my photoblog this morning (feel free to check that out via the link at the top), with photos that I'd taken from our drive to Oklahoma City back at the end of 2016/beginning of 2017.  I'm so behind on those posts, but I'm already planning another post for the 19th, as a tribute to the memorial of the tragedy that took place on that day 23 years ago (1995), so maybe I'll get caught up soon, if I stay motivated to keep updating.  Anyway, I'm always a little nervous when posting my photos on there, or really with sharing any of my artwork in general.  I don't think I'd make it as a professional in the arts scene, performing or otherwise, because I'm too self-conscious about my stuff.  Ugh. 😶

Especially where writing is concerned.  I always second-guess myself, after reading what I've written, and then have to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite until I'm blue in the face.  And it's a vicious cycle that makes me feel like I'll never get it to sound right.

Anyway... enough about that stuff!  I better go finish getting ready for Food Truck Thursday tonight!  My stomach is already growling! 😋