TV after midnight is often not for the faint of heart.  After 2AM?  Forget it.  My insomnia has gotten totally out of hand.  Last night I went to bed at midnight and woke up at two, ready for the tape gun and bubble wrap.  But those tools make noise, so I got my email, the few messages that I didn’t get at 12 and from friends in Texas and farther west.  Then I thumbed through the channels.  By the way, the shopping channels after two are also subject to change.  Take Shop Erotic.  The various appliances offered for three payments of $39.95 made me glad Jim and I are of the boring genre of couples.  Yuck.

I did some ‘paper work’ online, read a little, and watched a good 9/11 documentary that was new to me.  Finally, at about 8:30 I went back to sleep for two hours.  So I’m tired.  The day was full of dog vomit, calls to the vet about Riley’s oral biopsy yesterday, text messages to our realtors, more packing, which is really almost done; I know I keep saying that.  I mean honestly, why does a middle aged woman who doesn’t cook and never entertain have five sets of china?  Two Christmas patterns?  Really?

At six, my friend Mary came over and we drove to Medford to my monthly Friday night knitting group.  I have been included in this group for about six months and love the women who go, and now I have to leave them.  Usually, there is food involved and tonight, at Joanne’s it was fabulous.

She is a chef.  This surprised me because she has a full-time plus job, travels constantly, and she and her husband love to dine out.  Tonight she prepared homemade lasagna with buffalo meat.  It was just wonderful.  Her husband, Ken, was so attentive to the ladies.  We had a delicious artisan bread from Wegman’s with a dipping sauce made of a savory herb blend that was p-r-e-t-t-y heavy on the garlic.

They also are coffee snobs.  Ken brewed a fresh pot of something with a hint of cinnamon.  I don’t normally care for flavored coffees, but this was like drinking the autumn.  Beverly made homemade pumpkin bread with dates, and the combination of the dates, pumpkin, pumpkin spice, and the cinnamon coffee sparked a melancholy wave of yearning for the fall and cider and doughnuts.  Those are favorite things of mine, especially when enjoyed in my native Michigan.

I was glad to have the time with the women.  I love Joan and Carol; they are the kind of close friends who, rather than feeling excluded by their familiarity with each other, pull you into their fold and you feel so loved and included. As the night progressed, I was becoming somewhat saddened by the knowledge that this would our last evening together.

On the way home, my garlic breath was so overwhelming, Mary had to find mints stat.  At my age, strong sensations take all of my concentration, and I was truly afraid that if I was stopped by the police, which I am on a regular basis, I would be jailed for an excessive blood level of garlic.  Thankfully, we got home without incident.

Riley seems better now, thank heaven.  I just couldn’t face having to put another dog to sleep this year.   His biopsy was negative for cancer!  I finished packing another box and sat down to get my email.  I got a letter from a new friend, Mike, who I met on Ravelry.

Mike is a shepherd of Shetland sheep on his farm in Michigan.  His wife, Heather, is a veterinarian. I have never met them in person, yet from the first conversation, Mike has offered his assistance in every sheep crisis I am having.  He sent the names of boarding possibilities on the Michigan end if we couldn’t get into our house right away.  He offered advice about the areas that would be good for us to settle in.  He agreed to sell me hay when we get to Michigan. Today I got a wonderful email from him; there is a possibility he will be in NJ delivering sheep and might be able to bring my girls home!  This was the last piece of the puzzle that I was in travail over.

Jim and I had decided that if we had to, we would buy a horse trailer and drive back here after the Michigan closing to get the girls.  We may still have to do that.  But just the idea that a stranger would be so generous when there was absolutely no reason he had to be, convinced us that we are making a move that is completely right for us.

So there is a sadness about leaving my wonderful girlfriends behind.  I must be so blessed to have this wealth of friendship, so undeserving.  But both Jim and I have an excitement about our new life that is helping to make the chaos of the past few months seem worth it.