I’m thankful today for junk shopping with my mom and then spending the evening hanging out around the fire table. It was a good day.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing, but we made it through the week without our sweet Chance. It’s been strange moving throughout the house without my shadow. I’m not used to doing things like going to the bathroom alone. Our whole routine feels off. And I keep seeing the ghost of him in all his usuals spots—hiding behind the sofa pillow, begging next to the table, standing by sliding door, waiting to go out with me. Barley also seems a bit down. He lays by the door a lot, as if he’s waiting for Chance to walk back through. I think he’s lonely.

But by the end of the week, I was doing ok. My heart had stopped sinking with every reminder. Then today we got a sweet card in the mail from a friend and a card from the animal hospital with his nose print, and I cried all over again.

We miss him. But I imagine my Dad is taking good care of him. Maybe he’s snuggled up next to our cat, Sousi, waiting for us to be reunited. As sad as I am that he is gone, I’m really just so grateful that I saw his silly little face at the animal shelter and knew I needed to make him part of the family. We were so lucky.

So…I’ve been dealing with a crazy, swollen hand this week. It happened a couple weeks ago, but it went away quicker than it is now. It’s been like this since last Saturday. The urgent care doctor thinks it’s tendinitis, which I’m hoping is true since I’m afraid of lymphedema. Although it does seem odd that my left hand, which doesn’t do much but hang around since I’m right-handed, would have “tennis elbow.” But I do think it’s a tendon issue, maybe from getting pinched while I’m sleeping. I’m REALLY hoping my surgery fixes all these random, weird issues. One month and counting!

I’m thankful that tonight the swelling is down a bit. And that tomorrow is a half day in a short week that still feels long. That my mother-in-law, who wasn’t feeling well, is better. And that my mom will be visiting us this weekend.

I’m thankful today for good friends.

America’s birthday. For all our country’s problems, I’m still thankful for our freedoms.

I had today off work, so I helped Patrick paint (most of) the back of the house this morning before it got too hot. I’m glad we like the color because it’s A. Lot. Of. Work. Ugh. And now we have a house that blue/green/blue/green. The neighbors must love us.

Thankfully, our next-door neighbor is out of town and told us before she left that we were welcome to use her pool while she was gone. Actually, she said we could use it anytime, but no way I’m walking into her backyard while she’s home and hopping into her pool. But we took a quick dip to cool off this afternoon. It was refreshing, and I’m grateful for her generosity.

Of course, looking at our house from her backyard really showed us how bad it currently looks in it’s half-painted state. Good thing Patrick has the rest of July to finish it. Ha.

We spent a lot of the day distracting ourselves. Patrick scraped and power washed the house in preparation for finishing the painting. I worked on my painting and another junk book, and cleaned an old wooden trunk I bought a while ago. I’m grateful for having things to do.

A tough day. When you miss someone you love, you expect to see them everywhere they should be. It’s constant reminders of what your heart wants most. But I’m thankful for all of our family and friends who are helping us carry our grief.

I’m thankful for these peaceful faces after a tiring week.