Dear cali sister:

getting a flu shot fits with my stated #1 priority: your physical health and safety. Right next to this first priority is your job- for the paycheck, for it keeping you occupied and for how it makes you feel for doing a great job: “I am a great mentor for them….It feels good that I am able to mentor people although I am going through s much on my own. It shows growth and the ability to function”-

– trust in your ability to function in tough times is priceless.

Regarding your dog, it should be easy to remove your inaccurate projection into him because, like you wrote, he “is just happy baseline”. Unlike the child that you were, able to use a rich vocabulary of words and to imagine in great detail, he doesn’t. So when he is alone at home, he doesn’t think things like: maybe I am not a good-enough dog, and this is why cali sister is not with me! He doesn’t think that. He doesn’t imagine, or day dream of living in another home where he has you with him all the time. He doesn’t have the vocabulary or the ability to imagine in detail and for  long, so he is.. blessed that way.

It is okay if you don’t share about your crush here. Anytime you want to share or communicate with me about a topic you don’t feel comfortable in the context of a public forum such as this, do  so privately via email. My record of your email is and always will be confidential.

Regarding pumpkins and parrots, you wrote: “parrot looked down on me for it. Told me it was juvenile”- the epitome of juvenile-ism is your mother. A Lifetime (cruel) Juvenile!

anita