Updates -- I'm getting awesome at these multi-purpose posts!

Piper
Last weekend, I was worried about leaving Piper with a co-worker while K and I went to Norman. Not because I doubted my friend's abilities to take care of her, but because I was afraid Piper would really take to her and forget about me, considering she and I had bonded so quickly, but I'd only had her a week, and my co-worker would be with her for two whole days. It took Piper and I less than two days to get attached.

Anyway, Piper was great when K and I went to pick her up. Things were fine on Sunday and Monday. At work, though, my co-worker stopped by my desk about something, and Piper got really excited. She was jumping on my co-worker and wagging her tail. It was obvious Piper was excited to see her. When my co-worker left my desk, Piper started whining and crying. She even barked. Piper does that when I leave, but not when anyone else leaves.

I'm not gonna lie -- I was a little sad to see that. I mean, it's good Piper and my co-worker got along. I'm glad about that. But Piper was still sitting there with me when she got upset about my co-worker leaving. Bummer.

Thank goodness it was better today, two days after the first incident. There's still a little change in Piper's demeanor when my co-worker leaves her sight, but she's getting better. Piper's also getting better about when I leave her for a bit. I'm glad about that. Having a puppy who gets separation anxiety is tough to deal with!


Mom
After my last post about the latest news with my mom, I decided to do what beingmccrary said and follow my heart. When is that ever a bad idea? I really had been thinking about the whole situation more, with the wedding getting closer. I knew it was the best thing to do.

I emailed my mom and told her I'd talked to the hairdresser. I said that the hairdresser had told me about their conversation and about how upset my mom was. I reminded my mom that she was the one who'd made the decision that they weren't coming, not me. I told her the decision was, always has been and still is hers. I addressed a few of the other things she'd talked about with the hairdresser, and I closed the email telling her once again that it's her decision, and she, her husband and/or his daughters are all welcome.

I got the standard response from my mom where she brings up shit that happened years ago and manages to play the victim even though she did this to herself. The email was hypocritical, and my mom is pretty forgetful for being frustrated at me for things she's done herself.

Although the outcome of the emails isn't good, I'm glad it happened. I let her know -- again -- that she was welcome. And she reaffirmed the fact that it's a good idea that she miss out on the ceremony.

I really wanted to email her back and tell her that even if she decided she wanted to come after all, she isn't welcome. I also wanted to tell her that I didn't want her to attempt to communicate with my anymore, that I'm done with it. I had the (very brief) email typed up, and K told me it probably wasn't a good idea to send it. I didn't, but I still want to.


ER
Things are better now, thank goodness. ER sent me an email apologizing for being so upset when we talked on the phone. She said some nice things and then said she really wanted to forget the whole thing and put it in the past. Sounded good to me.

She called me that night to tell me something that had happened at work, and things are pretty well back to normal.


Deployment
It's still not completely definite, but we're almost certain K will deploy in November. With the report that came out this week, K is thinking he has a pretty good idea of what will happen, and he might only wind up in Iraq for a year. It'll be tough, but a year is better than 15 months. It's insane how long a month can seem during a deployment, much less an extra three.

The area K will go is a safer area. Attacks there are down, so that's a huge blessing. Here's hoping it stays that way.

We should know more in the next couple weeks, but that's pretty much all we've got right now.


End
And that's officially all I've got. Sorry to keep doing lame multi-purpose posts, but it's crazy how busy I've been lately. I still have a scrapbook to finish. Eek!