Daily Update, October 19, 2023

    Sorry for the old update that made it out by email. That was an accident. {apologetic look}

   Well, today I woke up, and checked my texts and voice mails while I was getting ready for the day. a text and two voicemail said Val had gotten worse overnight and asked me to call. Two answering machine messages, two or three texts from me, and at least one text from them, and they called me. Valentine had since died, and they wanted me to come in to visit the body and talk to them. Since I was not trying to get there before he died, I decided to do it after my online counselling appointment. 

   I did call our former nurse and let him know before the counselling appointment. He was understandably upset. He knew Val as a prickly cat from when he was our nurse.

   The counselling appointment went fine, and was pretty much centered on losing Val. I let some folks know about Val, then got ready to go down to the veterinarian. I was going to contact Uber but ended up calling Alan. I figured this was a good way to let him know about Val, and maybe have a little friendly support on the trip. We talked about Val on the way down, then he dropped me off, and headed off to his next ride.

   As he drove off, I realized that it was lunch time, and they were closed. However, one of the receptionists saw me and came and let me in. They had me wait in the lobby for a while, then took me to a room to wait. There was Val on the table. He was wrapped in blankets and looked asleep. They asked if I wanted the collar and took it off and gave it to me when I said I did. They explained that the vet was in an emergency operation. Then she'd have 10 minutes to talk to me before she had another emergency operation. Anything that couldn't be covered in the ten minutes would be covered in texts or phone calls later. A receptionist took care of payment while I waited. I also petted Val longer than he would normally allow before walking away while I waited for her. I didn't have many questions, and she answered what I did have pretty quickly. I don't think we used the full 10 minutes.

  I called Alan and waited outside. They eventually let me inside, but I didn't sit there long before Alan called to said he was there. We talked on the way home. Then, when we reached home, he asked if he could pray. I said sure, and he prayed for Val and me. I was very touched, and almost cried, but not quite.

   On Thursday I ate lunch and dinner with Mom and read to her before dinner. I read scripture and thoughts about it, first yesterday's, then todays, so I have caught up from the day I missed. Next, I continued with some more from a long family Christmas letter from her niece from 2022. Then I read the next few pages of _Memories 1950's_. After that, I read her a short story from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. Last, I finished with a story and a poem from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. First, I read "The Cricket," the 18th of October's story. Oliver caught a cricket which he kept in a box. At first it chirped, but it sang less and less, until Oliver got very worried. he told his grandfather, and they opened the box. His grandfather said the cricket woudl die of boredom if he stayed in the box any longer. He said crickets like warm, dry places. It was too cold to take the cricket outside, and suggested putting him by the hearth, which was big. Oliver put the cricket behind a stack of wood. That evening, it sang gaily. Last, I read "The Wise Owl" the 19th of October's story, or rather, poem. It praises the owl for hearing more and speaking less, saying that's why it's wise. {Smile}

   I did my arm swinging exercises and two of my head exercises waiting for Alan to take me down to the veterinarian's. Then I did my salsa dance warmup at the regular time. I did my other three head exercises after the salsa dancing warmup. Since I didn't have to feed and medicate Val, I had the time and energy for that. Then I did my less structured salsa dance set. {Smile}

   I read articles, comics and one of the web novels after lunch. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming just a bit later than usual. There, I found Perogies, Kitten, and Meroa, and we teamed up. Since Perogies, Kitten and I were all on our warshades, we started that story arc again. This time we got several missions in before Perogies left not that long before it was time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   I got back after dinner, wrote a little bit of this, and read some comics. I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming when I noticed Kitten had messaged me on the chat server. Kitten had fallen asleep by the time I said hi and invited them to team, though. Meroa teamed with me, and qworty joined us soon. After a few missions, I thought to invite a few new friends. Two joined.  I also let Owl Girl and Paradox know I was playing, and they joined us, too. Then Perogies came in and joined us. Kitten came in near the end, then Perogies left just before I did the last hunt, finishing a contact I've been working on for a few days. I read comics and a web novel around the salsa dancing and other exercise. I also talked with Kitten, then did a bit of paperwork in City of Heroes: Homecoming. Oh, and I wrote this up, switching to making notes when it got late before I was done. I finished it the next morning. {Smile}