Things:

I recently discovered this, which makes me happy.

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Two month old Jack Russell puppies, baby bunnies, and Welsh Corgies are so cute I could die.

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Huskies are so pretty I could die.

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I decided to go out and buy IV so I could feel like a good supportive fan. Hooray for free bonus discs from Best Buy.

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Today I bought Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. We'll see if it's any good (it should be, because it's Neil Gaiman, and he's awesome).

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My mom gave me a ring for my birthday that belonged to my grandfather. It's completely not my style (I mean, RINGS aren't my style...I take them off and lose them), it has a big round stone on top and two little diamonds (CZ?) on the sizes. At least it's silver. The cool part is, though, that the stone is a Star Sapphire, and not only is sapphire my birthstone, but it's friggin' hypnotic to look at. I could sit and stare at the thing for hours. Very, very trippy the way it does that.

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Recently I've thought a lot about the ways in which a relationship can be tested far, far down the road. Things no one can predict, but that nonetheless create (potentially huge) hurdles that hold the power to destroy a weak marriage. For example, my mom snores like no other (and stays up late doing projects for my sister), and my dad is a terribly light sleeper. Hence, my mom spends at least half her nights sleeping on a couch or on the guest bed. When I see couples that sleep in separate beds (or rooms for that matter), my heart breaks and I weep for those who have suffered the slow, numbing death of love. However, I never quite made the connection to my own family situation. The motivation behind it is different, but it gave me something to think about. Then there was my mom getting sick, and that whole hurdle, and now my dad and she both have to live with that inevitable truth, and now there's my dad's back threatening his mobility, and fighting the clock to hire a second doctor so he can take time off to get surgery before it's too late. Then there's my uncle, who unexpectedly lost most of his hearing to a virus a few years back, and after years of therapy and failed solutions he now has a cochlear implant but communicating with him is still very difficult (and my aunt is really feeling it). Then there's my great uncle who was reduced from a healthy old man who exercised every day to a hobbling, limp senior citizen with a walker by a stroke last year. They had to sell their house since his wife couldn't keep it up by herself, and now she and my grandmother have become his nursemaids. These are things that happen every day to people everywhere, but I had never really thought of them in terms of a relationship before. They're not just individuals, though...they're fathers, mothers, husbands, wives... Nobody knew it was coming, but everybody had to be prepared for it somewhere in their heart (though they willed it away with every ounce of their strength). In most cases it's not so much a dangerous threat to a bond, but more of an opportunity to demonstrate the depths of your commitment to and love for the other, but I can't imagine the amount of strength it must take, not only to see yourself through those times that seem hopeless, but to watch your other suffer as well. And what happens to the hearts of those whose others fall into a coma? Or what if they develop Alzheimer's and forget who you and your children are? Or what if they contract a terminal illness and you have to know how much longer they have? Or what if you have to watch them die? What happens if you lose a child? Sometimes even strong marriages can't survive that loss. I'm upsetting myself here, and I think I'm going a little crazy/getting a little carried away, so I'll stop. But still. It could happen to you, too, and it really scares me.