Day 9 and 10. I'm thankful for...

Welcome to days 9 and 10 of my ongoing attempt to focus on one thing I'm thankful for in my life every day for 1 year. Why? Because I'm a grumpy-ass curmudgeon who finds great pleasure in grousing. I fixate on what's wrong when I have so very many things that are right in my life. So, I thought I'd try looking on the sunny side for a change! Can I do it for 365 days--from Thanksgiving Eve 2011 to Thanksgiving Eve 2012? Here I am not even 2 weeks into the endeavor and I'm already on my seconf 2-fer post, I guess I'm not doing so well at the daily posting, but maybe I can at least manage 52 weeks of most of the time posts?

Day 9: I'm thankful for our  neighbors, the Joneses. We love our house and our West Ashley neighborhood. It took a few years to really make friends in our old Summerville neighborhood. The few we did make became dear friends, but I was underwhelmed by all the "friendliness" that South Carolinians sprain their arms patting themselves on the back over. Seriously, our whole neighborhood was a couple roads that looped back around on each other. When I'd be on my morning run or walking the dog and pass the only other person on the whole street and say "good morning," more often than not, I'd get no response, not even eye contact. To a Yankee-gone island girl, that was totally foreign and unacceptable. In upstate New York, people might just stop to gripe, but they'd at least stop and have a conversation. And of course in the VI NOT giving a greeting of "good morning/ afternoon/night" is just not done! Germany was a breath of fresh air after the anti-socialness of Summerville!

Then we moved to West Ashley after our return from Germany and it's like moving to happy land. Walking the neighborhood when we first moved in was a non-stop wave-fest. People would make a point of calling out and waving from their yard when they saw you go by. My morning walks are interrupted with short gab breaks more often than not. And best of all, we landed next door to two of the best neighbors anyone could want. Misty and Terry have similar interests to us, they're fun and funny and active without being overwhelming. They have pets, and treat them like we do ours - as family. Having neighbors who are more than the people who live in the house next door, but friends that we look forward to doing things with is such a remarkable experience. We had that as kids growing up, but lost it in adulthood. It's so nice to have that back. I am so very thankful that we have such fabulous neighbors.

Day 10: I'm thankful for Animal Medical West.

Some days, what we have to be thankful for is apparent. After Spooky went at it with big-cat this morning, he was walking a bit gingerly. Over the course of a few hours, he got slower and grumpier. He couldn't get comfortable and didn't want to be touched. When I put him in the carrier, he made a sound I'd never heard from him before--a peep. If you know Spooky, you know he's vocal and makes some funky deep yowly sounds when he isn't happy. This sad little squeak was different--this was him in pain. And off we went to AMW, with no appointment. We had to wait a bit, but not much longer than any typical appointment. I was getting pretty panicky, though, because instead of growling and yowling, Spooky curled onto his right side (he'd been favoring his left side, wouldn't let me touch it, and couldn't lay on it) and closed his eyes while I scritched his jaw.

Spooky has 4 bite marks - top/bottom canines - on his back and side. The vet shaved around them so I can keep an eye on them, gave him an antibiotic, and some pain meds. We can't give him too much because of his kidney problems, but he's in pain. Thankfully, he's not seriousy injured, mostly just sore. Figures. I'd tempted fate when last week at his appointment, I said "it's been a while since our accident prone cat has had anything wrong." I knocked on wood, but maybe not hard enough. Now he has both feline chronic kidney failure and catfight injuries to deal with. Guess that makes up for those 3 injury-free years.

Today, I'm thankful that we found a vet I like, and seems like Spooky likes, too.