Grace

Daily, Grace is my buddy, my nuisance, my bed-warmer, my frustration, and my delight.

This morning we spent outside in the frosty sunshine. First, we went to the farmer's market where she pulled me from stand to stand and I could not find any flowers. The blooms all froze last night. Next, we stopped at Stone Brothers to get some leaf bags. Grace stuck her head out the car window to flirt with the garden specialists. After we got home, I spent the rest of the morning in the yard raking leaves. She watched me until I had a nice pile. Then she rolled around in them and pulled her tether through them. When she bored of messing up my piles of leaves, she barked and tried to climb up into trees to get the squirrels that are building nests up above. As I stood watching her I told a passing neighbor, "she is crazy," and she said, "she's just like you."

It had been a busy morning and it was time for a nap.

When I woke up she was in a curl right beside me. The sun was sparkling through the window and landing right on her head. I sat up and watched her sleeping for a minute. As I leaned towards her, she opened her eyes and started wagging her tail. When I started talking to her, she got up and started licking my mouth, my nose and my eyes. I started to giggle and she shook her tail so hard she fell down.

We do adore each other.