Favorite Things of the Month--Part I

When I planned my locums assignments, I wanted to make sure that I had a good work/life balance.  Places near family and/or friends were high on the list.  If the job was located near or relatively near an LDS temple, even better.  I also wanted to be able to fill my off-hours with other good things, like exercise and cultural events, maybe even some sightseeing.

This assignment is located a reasonable drive from one of my oldest and best friends.  You know (or at least I hope you know) that kind of friend--the one that you can basically tell anything and they'll understand, where you can not see each other for a couple of years or more and pick up where you left off as if you just lived across the street.  It's a balm to my soul to be able to spend time with this "sister from another mister" (and--fun fact--we are actually distant cousins through our paternal lines.)

I also have a very good group of friends from my days in New York.  We have scattered all over the place, so being able to visit one can be a rare treat.  One of those friends lives nearby, and she recently had the life-changing miracle of giving birth to a beautiful baby boy.  It just so happened that his blessing (what we in the LDS church call a christening) was scheduled for my first weekend up here.  It was absolutely wonderful to see her and her little son and see the joy that she feels to be a mother.

I am LDS, and one of the things that is important to me is taking the opportunity to attend the temple.  We believe that families can be together forever, and the place where we make those covenants with God to have the opportunity to do that is in our temples.  For those of our ancestors who for whatever reason did not have that chance in this life, we perform those ordinances as proxies for them.  I had the name of a very distant relative that needed her temple ordinances done.  I thought that I would only be able to do two of the four ordinances for her with the limited time I had, but through a series of miracles, I did all of her work the other evening.  It gives me a lot of joy to know that she has the chance to progress and be with her family forever, and I felt (and feel) very strongly that she was aware that was being done and was super-happy about it.

Ollie, Ollie Not Exactly Free

Before I tell the story of Oliver, I want to express my gratitude for friends near and far.  I'm grateful that we ran into the Asburys and the Gefroms at the pizza place this evening.  I'm grateful to have had a good old chat with Jacy and Amy.  They are amazing women.  I'm grateful for the spiritual strength of my friend, Amberly.  Thanks for sharing about your new nephew's struggle so that we can all add our prayers to the Banks' and Hunt's.

I'm also grateful for my dear husband.  He spent quite a bit of time getting cat supplies, then three hours at the Humane Society today, all so I could have a cat.

Okay, and now Oliver Hammond, our new housemate.  We wanted a Russian Blue cat, because they are on the list of less-allergenic cats, plus they are cute.  The Humane Society had a five-month-old kitten and a mature cat, so we dropped by on Sunday afternoon with our friends, Mimi and Herb, to check them out.

The San Diego Humane Society building is beautiful, by the way.  I thought it would be more of an industrial building, but it was very airy and clean.

The Russian Blue kitten, Seymour, was in a room with six other kittens.  Seymour was curled under a chair, taking a nap.  Several other kittens were gamboling around the room.  One in particular, Oliver, a cute little black-and-white kitty, was being particularly playful and cute.  Seymour did wake up for a couple of minutes, and man, was he adorable--the perfect Russian Blue.  He seemed to be very skittish, though.

This morning, Rowdy and I decided that he would go to the Humane Society during the day and check Seymour out one-on-one.  If everything went well, we'd get him.  We even thought of an awesome name for him, Oslo Dahlstromovich Briccovski.

Unfortunately, Seymour blew his audition.  He didn't want to be petted.  He was much more interested in trying to nurse on the other kittens than play.  It was just a disaster, really.  If we wanted a cat that just curled up under a chair, we would  buy a stuffed cat.

I was able to leave work a little early and meet up with Rowdy and the cats.  Oliver won me over, even though he makes me sniffle and wheeze.  A $125 payment to the San Diego Humane Society, as well a a good chunk of money spent at Petco, and Oliver was ours.

He is getting acclimated to our house in our upstairs bathroom for the next couple of days.  We're trying to get him to bond primarily with me, so I brought him home in my car, introduced him to the bathroom and have been in to play with him.  He has let me pet him quite a bit, but he's not ready to let me pick him up.  He only cried for a few seconds after I shut the door.

We thought of calling him Oslo, but it doesn't fit him.  So he's Oliver Hammond, after Richard Hammond of TopGear and the little car he named Oliver.  Too bad, though, because Oslo Dahlstromovich Briccovski is a pretty dope name.