Aww sweet Hunter, kind of sounds like Nugget – not a perfect dog, a little anxious and barks a lot but always loves me. <3 I’m glad you get those daily visits! Sounds precious.

I’m sorry to hear about your mother. That is a tough relationship to be inconsistent. But understandable that the kindness between explosions would no longer cut it. Can you sit calmly by a nice and innocent looking package of any sort knowing there is a bomb inside that could go off at any second? Interesting… I can relate some to what you wrote about your mom. You may know from some of my previous posts that she hasn’t been the most consistent person either. I would never say it’s abusive but I have had to create some distance between us at times so as not to allow myself to get sucked into her bad mood/emotional-ness. As I’ve gotten older it’s been better. As a teenager we would get into huge fights because I just wanted her to see and admit how her emotional instability and choices made things hard for me but she never could and would only get more and more mad. So I just allow her to be how she is. And *try* to not let myself get emotionally wrapped up in that. Not easy a lot of times.

Anyway! I’m sorry for what will seem like my own inconsistency – I’m about to be off work till after the New Year and will be pretty much unplugged during that time. Don’t feel like I can adequately respond here from my phone and I don’t have a laptop at home. I wish you and those you love very Happy Holidays, Anita!!