People Magazine: the Widowed Issue

Today after work I came home, rounded up the dogs and headed over to the vet's office. Charlie had an appointment and I have found that it is easier to just take them both than it is to try to just get one of them out of the house. Plus, it is an ego boost when all the other animal parents tell me how cute my boys are.

While I was waiting for the vet to come back with the results of the ear cytology, I picked up the 5/25 issue of People Magazine. After reading the story on missing former child actor Joe Pilcher, who vanished without a trace in 2006, I randomly flipped to an article on Jai Pausch, widow of Randy Pausch of "The Last Lecture" fame. The article discussed how she is coping with her husband's death which was not quite a year ago.

After that, I randomly flipped to a piece about Nate Berkus, Oprah's designer that lost his longtime partner to the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. The article was about how he has found love again so that was inspiring.

Then, I flipped to a blurb on American Idol contestant and widower Danny Gokey. This was just a snippet about his recent homecoming, but it did mention his widower status and that his late wife died during surgery for congestive heart failure.

Finally, I flipped to a review for the movie "Taken," starring Liam Neeson, which mentioned the recent passing of Natasha Richardson.

After this, I decided to try the 3/23 issue and opened it to an article on British reality star Jane Goody, who recently lost her battle with cancer. I was about to try Entertainment Weekly when the vet assistant brought back my double ear-infected dog, which is not at all uncommon for a cocker spaniel but actually pretty rare for Charlie. I seriously don't think he realizes he is a cocker spaniel. I am pretty sure he thinks he is a cross between a Jack Russell and a human.

After we left the vet's office to "go bye-bye in the car," I decided I Fruitista Freeze would go great with my leftover quesadilla and pulled into Taco Bell, which is a block away from the vet's office. As I was sitting in the drive thru, after reading all those articles, I found it fitting that the song on the radio was Tom Cochrane's version of "Life is a Highway"-one of the two songs on James' memorial DVD.