Earlier today I remembered I never got around to checking the mail yesterday. I decided the mail would still be there tomorrow and then thought that maybe the genealogy records I was waiting for came and decided to go out and check. I don't know what made me think this. I ordered my grandmother's application for her social security number and my great-grandparent's marriage certificate on 5/21/09. Both were expected to be here in 6-8 weeks, which it clearly has not been.
The first thing I pulled out of the mailbox was an envelope from the Social Security Administration. Then came some junk mail followed by an envelope from the New York State Archivist. (After predicting the Brewer's manager was about to make a double switch in the bottom of the 6th, I should have run out and bought a lottery ticket since I was clearly on a roll!)
After sorting through and disposing of the junk mail, I decided to open the letter from the Social Security Administration first. Since I provided my grandma's social security number when I requested the application, I was confident a copy of her application would be in the envelope. I was not disappointed. This didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. I wanted the application to see what she listed as her place of birth. According to her social security application, her marriage license and her death certificate, she was born in New York City. I am hoping that having three legal documents stating her place of birth as New York City will finally be enough to convince my mother that Grandma was not born in Schenectady. I still need her birth certificate, but at this point I am pretty sure that no matter what documentation I produce, Mom is still going to believe her mother was born in Schenectady.
I was hesitant to open the envelope from the New York State Archivist. My luck with receiving vital records from New York has been hit and miss and the envelope was pretty thin. Much to my delight, my great-grandparent's marriage certificate was enclosed. This is exciting because I know virtually nothing about my great-grandmother, Teresa Codignotto Fromia. I now know that she married my great-grandfather, John (aka Giovanni) Fromia at the age of 22 and Codignotto is in fact her maiden name. They married in February 1912, so I can estimate her birth year as 1889 or 1890, given I don't know what month she was born in.
The biggest piece of my genealogical puzzle this solves is I now know her father was Antonio Codignotto. The new puzzling piece is that her mother's first name was Caterina but her mother's maiden name is illegible. Grr!!! It starts with a "C" and ends with "ssi" and is not a long name. I now suspect my great-aunt Catherine was named for Caterina, and my great-uncle Angelo (aka Andrew) was named for my great-grandfather's mother, Angela.
Not to be deterred, I decided to search a couple of genealogy sites. My favorite Italian Genealogy site, italiangen.org, was down so I tried familysearch.org. A search for Codignotto returned a marriage record for Francesco Codignotto and Maria Niedda in 1908. Francesco's parents are listed as Antonio Codignotto and Caterina Casso. I have found spelling errors with Family Search before, so it is possible this should be Caterina Cassi. According to my mother, Teresa had a brother named Frank (aka Franky Cody). Frank and John worked together which is how he met Teresa and the Codignotto family was against them getting married. The way she told me the story implied there was another Codignotto brother as well. Mom also said Teresa was raised in a convent in Italy "for some reason." Unfortunately, most of what Mom has told me I have proven to be false.
I know more than I did when I woke up this morning, which is always a good thing. Now I need to try to find death certificates for John and Teresa and a birth certificate for my grandmother. I also need to find a passenger list showing Teresa arriving in New York. After that, my search moves from New York to Italy, and I have no idea how to go about requesting records from Italy. My next vacation may just have to be in Sardinia, with a layover in Suffolk County, NY.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Why ask for my number if you aren't going to call it?
If you think this is a post about dating, its not. The last time a guy asked me for my phone number because he was interested in getting to know me better was in December of 1999. Yeah, that sounds like a long dry spell, but up until 16 months ago, I planned to spend the rest of my life with him so there was no need to give anyone else my number.
No, this is a silly rant about my vet's office that I am using my blog to get out of my system since I can't whine about it to James and I need to not let things that annoy me just fester. Given the number of blemishes that are lined up along my jawline, I am already stressed out enough about something I have yet to figure out.
This morning I dropped my dogs off to be groomed, or to "get naked" as I like to call it. I filled out the little form they always have me fill out and knowing I was going to be at a volunteer project most of the afternoon, put my cell phone number for them to call when the boys were done. The project was scheduled to end at 2:30; I left at 3:45. The vet's office had not called. So, I went to Costco, got the two things I needed for bunco tonight and called the vet's office. I was cheerily informed the boys had been ready to go home for "awhile."
This wouldn't be so annoying if this was the first or only time this has happened. It's annoying because it happens every single time. If I drop them off on the way to work, I leave my work number. If I have something going on like I did today, I leave my cell number. Usually, they call the house and then get snippy when I call to see if they are ready because they left me a message. I was surprised I didn't have a message when I got home; I won't be surprised if there is one waiting for me when I get to work on Monday.
Yes, this is silly and stupid. But what's the point of them having a protocol if they aren't going to follow it? I have found that since James died, my tolerance is much lower and my expectations are much higher than ever before. I think the real reason I am annoyed is because every time I drop the dogs off, I actually think they are going to call the number I have given them. At least she got the haircuts right-Sammy looks angry and Charlie looks like a chihuahua. So at least she read the really important part of the form. And I feel better for having whined about it, even though I am tempted to just delete this whole thing.
No, this is a silly rant about my vet's office that I am using my blog to get out of my system since I can't whine about it to James and I need to not let things that annoy me just fester. Given the number of blemishes that are lined up along my jawline, I am already stressed out enough about something I have yet to figure out.
This morning I dropped my dogs off to be groomed, or to "get naked" as I like to call it. I filled out the little form they always have me fill out and knowing I was going to be at a volunteer project most of the afternoon, put my cell phone number for them to call when the boys were done. The project was scheduled to end at 2:30; I left at 3:45. The vet's office had not called. So, I went to Costco, got the two things I needed for bunco tonight and called the vet's office. I was cheerily informed the boys had been ready to go home for "awhile."
This wouldn't be so annoying if this was the first or only time this has happened. It's annoying because it happens every single time. If I drop them off on the way to work, I leave my work number. If I have something going on like I did today, I leave my cell number. Usually, they call the house and then get snippy when I call to see if they are ready because they left me a message. I was surprised I didn't have a message when I got home; I won't be surprised if there is one waiting for me when I get to work on Monday.
Yes, this is silly and stupid. But what's the point of them having a protocol if they aren't going to follow it? I have found that since James died, my tolerance is much lower and my expectations are much higher than ever before. I think the real reason I am annoyed is because every time I drop the dogs off, I actually think they are going to call the number I have given them. At least she got the haircuts right-Sammy looks angry and Charlie looks like a chihuahua. So at least she read the really important part of the form. And I feel better for having whined about it, even though I am tempted to just delete this whole thing.
Friday, June 5, 2009
40,000 Miles
On my way to work this morning, I hit 40,000 miles on my car. That's not too bad considering I have had it since January 2005. It made me a little sad I couldn't share this with James and I thought that was a bit silly. It's just a car and it's not even really that major of a milestone. The more I thought about it, I realized the sadness comes from knowing that with every mile I put on the car, I am one mile closer to someday needing a new car and having to go buy it for the first time in my adult life alone. That is not something I am looking forward to.
When I met James, I had a 1993 Toyota Tercel and he had a little "death trap," also known as the 1989 Honda CRX. Neither car was in pristine shape so whoever got home first got to park in the carport.
In November 2000, we found out my Tercel needed a new engine. I was devastated. I loved my little car. I knew I wanted it the first time I saw it the night one of my best guy friends and I went out for ice cream and there it was in the lot next to Baskin-Robbins. He came with me to help with the negotiations, and the test drive and to ask all the questions guys just know to ask. It was the first non-junker I owned. It was my first car loan, and I paid the entire loan myself. I bought it shortly before I graduated from college; to me, it represented my first real "grown-up" purchase and I hated to see it go. But at this point the service department knew me quite well and James asked even if I got a new engine if I would feel safe driving the car across the bridge everyday. I said "no," and we began the search for a new car.
My plan had been to graduate from the Tercel to the Corolla and eventually to the Camry. I test drove the Corolla and hated it. I ended up buying a 2001 Honda Civic, which meant we were both driving Hondas. This was Thanksgiving weekend and I was so sick. The finance guy was not very nice to me and I ended up in tears. We almost walked out at this point, but we finalized the deal. When I went to the doctor the following Tuesday, I had bronchitis so bad my doctor said if I didn't show improvement in 24 hours, she was admitting me to the hospital, that's how sick I was. Because I now had a brand new car, I got to park in the carport. I also ended up with a very nice pair of pearl earrings to help ease the trauma of this experience.
In February 2001, around Valentine's Day, James decided to trade-in the CRX and ended up with a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. I remember this because they called on Valentine's Day to say the financing hadn't gone through (this dealership is notorious for this) and James happened to be home sick. So, after I got off work, I took a feverish James to get his CRX back. In the end, James kept the Eclipse and they worked out a new loan with a payment that was $100/month less than the loan they "couldn't" finance. Even though his car was used, we went back to whoever got home first got the carport, which usually was not me. (It was not my idea to go back to this way of doing things). A few months later, we bought the house and both parked in the garage, which solved that once and for all.
At the end of 2004, James decided he was tired of driving a stick shift. The freeways in the Phoenix area get congested quickly, and he was tired of the constant shifting on his way home. Plus, I forgot how to drive a stick ages ago, so if there was an emergency and we were in his car, he was pretty much screwed. So, one weekend we set out to find a new car for him and I swear we went to every dealership in the Phoenix area. He test drove 17 cars. Some he had no intention of buying; he drove them simply because he could. And he didn't buy a car.
One of the cars he test drove was the 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart. It wasn't what he wanted, but he thought I would like it, so I gave it a spin and I loved it. I wasn't in the market for a car at the time, but I kept feeling like the Civic wasn't going to stop when I hit the brakes. I did need new brakes, but after a couple of weeks, the feeling came back. So, in January 2005, I traded it in for the Lancer. And once again, we were driving cars by the same manufacturer until James traded in the Eclipse for an Acura. It turns out that wasn't really what he wanted either and about a year later, he finally found the car that had everything he wanted: a 2006 BMW 325, which was actually a lot more affordable than we thought it would be.
So now I have a car I absolutely love even though it has no bells and whistles, and a car he absolutely loved with all the bells and whistles and I drive the Lancer. People think I am nuts for driving a Lancer when I have a BMW, but I love my little car. For me, a car has always been nothing more than a means to get from point A to point B, but this one is so fun to drive. And I love that in a way, James picked it out for me. I am also a little afraid to drive the BMW (which currently has a dead battery anyway)-I don't want to "hurt" it. Plus, James died in that car. I can't seem to part with it though and I know I need to get it running and drive it around. I think he would really like it if I did.
When I met James, I had a 1993 Toyota Tercel and he had a little "death trap," also known as the 1989 Honda CRX. Neither car was in pristine shape so whoever got home first got to park in the carport.
In November 2000, we found out my Tercel needed a new engine. I was devastated. I loved my little car. I knew I wanted it the first time I saw it the night one of my best guy friends and I went out for ice cream and there it was in the lot next to Baskin-Robbins. He came with me to help with the negotiations, and the test drive and to ask all the questions guys just know to ask. It was the first non-junker I owned. It was my first car loan, and I paid the entire loan myself. I bought it shortly before I graduated from college; to me, it represented my first real "grown-up" purchase and I hated to see it go. But at this point the service department knew me quite well and James asked even if I got a new engine if I would feel safe driving the car across the bridge everyday. I said "no," and we began the search for a new car.
My plan had been to graduate from the Tercel to the Corolla and eventually to the Camry. I test drove the Corolla and hated it. I ended up buying a 2001 Honda Civic, which meant we were both driving Hondas. This was Thanksgiving weekend and I was so sick. The finance guy was not very nice to me and I ended up in tears. We almost walked out at this point, but we finalized the deal. When I went to the doctor the following Tuesday, I had bronchitis so bad my doctor said if I didn't show improvement in 24 hours, she was admitting me to the hospital, that's how sick I was. Because I now had a brand new car, I got to park in the carport. I also ended up with a very nice pair of pearl earrings to help ease the trauma of this experience.
In February 2001, around Valentine's Day, James decided to trade-in the CRX and ended up with a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. I remember this because they called on Valentine's Day to say the financing hadn't gone through (this dealership is notorious for this) and James happened to be home sick. So, after I got off work, I took a feverish James to get his CRX back. In the end, James kept the Eclipse and they worked out a new loan with a payment that was $100/month less than the loan they "couldn't" finance. Even though his car was used, we went back to whoever got home first got the carport, which usually was not me. (It was not my idea to go back to this way of doing things). A few months later, we bought the house and both parked in the garage, which solved that once and for all.
At the end of 2004, James decided he was tired of driving a stick shift. The freeways in the Phoenix area get congested quickly, and he was tired of the constant shifting on his way home. Plus, I forgot how to drive a stick ages ago, so if there was an emergency and we were in his car, he was pretty much screwed. So, one weekend we set out to find a new car for him and I swear we went to every dealership in the Phoenix area. He test drove 17 cars. Some he had no intention of buying; he drove them simply because he could. And he didn't buy a car.
One of the cars he test drove was the 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart. It wasn't what he wanted, but he thought I would like it, so I gave it a spin and I loved it. I wasn't in the market for a car at the time, but I kept feeling like the Civic wasn't going to stop when I hit the brakes. I did need new brakes, but after a couple of weeks, the feeling came back. So, in January 2005, I traded it in for the Lancer. And once again, we were driving cars by the same manufacturer until James traded in the Eclipse for an Acura. It turns out that wasn't really what he wanted either and about a year later, he finally found the car that had everything he wanted: a 2006 BMW 325, which was actually a lot more affordable than we thought it would be.
So now I have a car I absolutely love even though it has no bells and whistles, and a car he absolutely loved with all the bells and whistles and I drive the Lancer. People think I am nuts for driving a Lancer when I have a BMW, but I love my little car. For me, a car has always been nothing more than a means to get from point A to point B, but this one is so fun to drive. And I love that in a way, James picked it out for me. I am also a little afraid to drive the BMW (which currently has a dead battery anyway)-I don't want to "hurt" it. Plus, James died in that car. I can't seem to part with it though and I know I need to get it running and drive it around. I think he would really like it if I did.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
I've created a monster!
Okay, so maybe I haven't exactly created a monster yet, but I could be getting close. I definitely have a new obsession with painting the house. Now that the bathroom is done, and I absolutely love it, I have decided the upstairs hallway looks shabby and needs to be painted as well. Project purple bedroom is still in the works as well. The paint samples have now made it too the dining table. I am tentatively thinking 4th of July weekend for that project.
There is a catch to painting the hallway. Due to the layout of my entryway, I cannot safely paint it without a scaffold and even with all my harebrained ideas, I am smart enough to not even attempt to go there. Luckily, the entryway is not a bad color:
Looking down from the half wall at the top of the stairs
The windows are above and to the right of the front door
I didn't feel like taking new pictures but these should suffice to get the gist of it. The challenge is that the color I decide to paint the hallway has to look good with both the yellow of the entryway and the newly painted green bathroom. I am thinking along the lines of tan or sand-something in the light brown family. My friend suggested orange-I think she was kidding. Hard to tell with text messages. So, today at lunch I headed up to Lowe's and picked up a bazillion more paint samples in both browns and oranges.
A lot of the house was painted just before we moved in so this should be all that I feel an obsessive need to paint, but somehow I doubt it. Maybe after this I will be content to go back to birdhouses. I have a bunch of those that need to be painted too.
There is a catch to painting the hallway. Due to the layout of my entryway, I cannot safely paint it without a scaffold and even with all my harebrained ideas, I am smart enough to not even attempt to go there. Luckily, the entryway is not a bad color:
Looking down from the half wall at the top of the stairs
The windows are above and to the right of the front door
I didn't feel like taking new pictures but these should suffice to get the gist of it. The challenge is that the color I decide to paint the hallway has to look good with both the yellow of the entryway and the newly painted green bathroom. I am thinking along the lines of tan or sand-something in the light brown family. My friend suggested orange-I think she was kidding. Hard to tell with text messages. So, today at lunch I headed up to Lowe's and picked up a bazillion more paint samples in both browns and oranges.A lot of the house was painted just before we moved in so this should be all that I feel an obsessive need to paint, but somehow I doubt it. Maybe after this I will be content to go back to birdhouses. I have a bunch of those that need to be painted too.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Irrational Fear: Disappearing Picture
This picture of James sits on my mantle:
It was taken on the morning of January 8, 2007 on the balcony of our stateroom aboard Royal Caribbean's "Navigator of the Seas." Our first port of call, Labadee, Haiti is in the background. It was taken the morning after James proposed. It is the last picture on his memorial slide show.
I love this picture and often find my eyes gravitating towards it before I leave in the morning or when I am watching TV. Every so often though, I panic as I glance over. I am afraid that I am going to look over and find that it is fading away, like Marty McFly's family did in the picture he had during the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance scene in "Back to the Future."
I know this is irrational and that every time I look, the picture is still going to be there just as it is now. However, when you lose someone and go through their things, and take them off the accounts, and finalize everything, it tends to feel like their existence is being erased and I know that is where my fear is coming from. Deep down, I know that I will carry him with me for as long as I live and he will never truly be erased. And if time does fade the picture, I'll just print off another one.
It was taken on the morning of January 8, 2007 on the balcony of our stateroom aboard Royal Caribbean's "Navigator of the Seas." Our first port of call, Labadee, Haiti is in the background. It was taken the morning after James proposed. It is the last picture on his memorial slide show.
I love this picture and often find my eyes gravitating towards it before I leave in the morning or when I am watching TV. Every so often though, I panic as I glance over. I am afraid that I am going to look over and find that it is fading away, like Marty McFly's family did in the picture he had during the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance scene in "Back to the Future."
I know this is irrational and that every time I look, the picture is still going to be there just as it is now. However, when you lose someone and go through their things, and take them off the accounts, and finalize everything, it tends to feel like their existence is being erased and I know that is where my fear is coming from. Deep down, I know that I will carry him with me for as long as I live and he will never truly be erased. And if time does fade the picture, I'll just print off another one.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Last Comic Standing
I am not a reality show junkie. I get enough reality out of life and the news. I watch TV to escape and of course, to see my beloved Braves. That being said, however, I am a fan of The Apprentice/"Celebrity" Apprentice and Last Comic Standing.
Now that all the regular programming is finished for the season and the summer shows are about to start, I decided to look and see when Last Comic Standing was coming back on the air. James and I both enjoyed/enjoy a good stand up routine, so this is a show we watched together. We went to the local comedy club here a few times and while living in Arizona, went to a few shows at The Improv in Tempe, the best being the time he surprised me with tickets to see Kevin Pollak. I actually ruined the surprise, but I did it on purpose so he would see what it felt like since he managed to ruin pretty much every surprise I tried to plan for him. We still had fun though and after that he did make an effort to stop ruining my surprises.
We started to watch Last Comic Standing at the beginning of season 2. All season long, I was torn between John Heffron and Alonzo Boden and James would just shake his head as I debated who to vote for. I was happy that John won, but was torn down to the very last vote. When season 3 aired as the "Battle of the Best" between the stars of seasons 1 and 2, we were glad we didn't watch season 1 because we felt the season 2 comics were a lot better. We actually saw several of the season 2 comics at The Improv. Unfortunately, their acts were pretty much the same as what was on TV, so we had already heard most of the material, but Alonzo Boden is much funnier in person. I was glad he won season 3, and to this day think it is totally unfair NBC refused to air the final episode.
When season 4 aired in the summer of 2006, we were back up here. The Tempe Improv is one of the places they hold auditions. After the auditions there were finished I turned to James and told him that everytime they panned the audience, I was searching for people I knew. He started laughing and I thought he thought I was just being my silly self until he admitted he had been doing the same thing. Neither of us saw anyone we knew.
James lost interest with season 5 but I stuck it out despite not thinking any of the comics were really that funny. (I was hoping they'd get better. Sadly, they did not). Last year was the first season I had to watch it alone and there were several times I found myself turning towards James' empty spot on the couch to make comments about the jokes.
According to Wikipedia, the show has been cancelled. I'm okay with that for a couple of reasons: first, it wasn't a true amateur contest and I felt it should have been and it just isn't the same without James laughing (or not) on the couch next to me still scanning for people we know when the auditions are held in Tempe.
Now that all the regular programming is finished for the season and the summer shows are about to start, I decided to look and see when Last Comic Standing was coming back on the air. James and I both enjoyed/enjoy a good stand up routine, so this is a show we watched together. We went to the local comedy club here a few times and while living in Arizona, went to a few shows at The Improv in Tempe, the best being the time he surprised me with tickets to see Kevin Pollak. I actually ruined the surprise, but I did it on purpose so he would see what it felt like since he managed to ruin pretty much every surprise I tried to plan for him. We still had fun though and after that he did make an effort to stop ruining my surprises.
We started to watch Last Comic Standing at the beginning of season 2. All season long, I was torn between John Heffron and Alonzo Boden and James would just shake his head as I debated who to vote for. I was happy that John won, but was torn down to the very last vote. When season 3 aired as the "Battle of the Best" between the stars of seasons 1 and 2, we were glad we didn't watch season 1 because we felt the season 2 comics were a lot better. We actually saw several of the season 2 comics at The Improv. Unfortunately, their acts were pretty much the same as what was on TV, so we had already heard most of the material, but Alonzo Boden is much funnier in person. I was glad he won season 3, and to this day think it is totally unfair NBC refused to air the final episode.
When season 4 aired in the summer of 2006, we were back up here. The Tempe Improv is one of the places they hold auditions. After the auditions there were finished I turned to James and told him that everytime they panned the audience, I was searching for people I knew. He started laughing and I thought he thought I was just being my silly self until he admitted he had been doing the same thing. Neither of us saw anyone we knew.
James lost interest with season 5 but I stuck it out despite not thinking any of the comics were really that funny. (I was hoping they'd get better. Sadly, they did not). Last year was the first season I had to watch it alone and there were several times I found myself turning towards James' empty spot on the couch to make comments about the jokes.
According to Wikipedia, the show has been cancelled. I'm okay with that for a couple of reasons: first, it wasn't a true amateur contest and I felt it should have been and it just isn't the same without James laughing (or not) on the couch next to me still scanning for people we know when the auditions are held in Tempe.
Monday, June 1, 2009
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.
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.
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