Hair of the Dog

Haha Jynxx, that title is just for you.

But, its so applicable!  Speaking from a RL point of view, its very relevant to my every day life. Not in the alcohol sense, but in it's truest form.  Dog hair.  Its everywhere.  It doesn't seem to matter how much I sweep and vacuum and mop - Its still there.  I have two doggies, my fur-babies now that all of my own kids have grown up and moved out and started their own families.  Achilles is a Welsh Pembroke Corgi mix, and Loki is a Schnauzer-Pug mix.  We call him a Schnug.  Heh. Anyway, they both shed like nobody's business.  And it's all white for the most part.  For some reason, Achilles never seems to shed the darker hair.  Or, maybe I just haven't noticed it as much as the downy, snow-coloured drifts that seem to accumulate, seemingly overnight, in every nook and cranny of my house.

That's what I have done today.  I have swept, vacuumed, and swept again, then mopped.  Two hours later, guess what I have found?  Yep, you're right.  More dog hair.  I suppose its probably too cold to shave them both bald.  Besides, they would look really funny, and probably poop in my shoes or something if I did that.  Loki is looking at me dangerously, for even thinking about it, if even in jest.  Yeah ... no, I won't be doing that.  I like my shoes.  They're black and pink Sketchers.

It fits in other ways, too, though, relating to SL.  Sometimes, the hair of the dog is just what I need to keep on being motivated, and to pull myself out of thoughts of grumpiness and anger and despair.  Usually, I do really well at keeping on, but sometimes I need that little dose of the hair of the dog to get back on track again.   That dose comes by way of people like Perse, who thanked me the other day "for all that you do".  People like Miss Rose and Sir Len, who come to Naked Night even when Sir Len isn't feeling well.   People like Lioness and Shanique and Rosie and Isis, and a bunch of others who tell us, point blank, that they aren't going anywhere, because they love, and are LOYAL to Exile.  Most of all, people like Jynxx and Emerald, who never have a problem kicking me in the pants and telling me to suck it up and move on.  People like my Master, who is always there for me, no matter what, helping me with Exile stuff, even if he would rather be doing something more intimate with his girl.    THESE are the reasons we kept Exile going.  THEY are the ones that exhibit what it means to be family - the Exiles - bound together by love and loyalty, and kept strong by that feeling of belonging to something special.

And while I am being thankful, I'm thankful for all of the lessons that I have learned this year, too. Lessons in trust, and who not to trust.  Lessons in pride, and lessons taught in anger.  Everything is a lesson, I think.   I think the biggest lesson that I have learned this year is that I trust too easily. Some might say that its an endearing trait, but its hard to see it that way, when what it brings you is a knife to the back.  (Or several, as the case may be.)   E'tu, Brute?   Heh.

Another thing that I have come to know about myself is that I have no room in my life for pretenders.  That goes from pretended loyalty all the way to people pretending to be what they aren't.   Spoiler alert - finding out that someone you knew for years, and trusted, is not only a backstabber and not loyal, but not even the sex that they pretend to be.   Just, ugh.

Things are going to be good for me in the New Year.  I am not making any resolutions except for one .. to be a better me.   :)    And, in the words of Jynxx -- Not to sweat the small stuff, and not to pet the sweaty stuff.

~R