For those of you wondering if my window shattered, it did not and I never stopped looking out it. Patches and I decided to take a little break and work on a different project for a time. He has been writing every day and making people laugh uproariously. I tell you guys, he is one funny dachshund and will be coming out with his very own book soon. It will be titled Patches Of Brilliance A Series of Blogs By Patches Schulz-Genius. Anyone who has ever owned a pet and wished they could experience life through their eyes would get a huge kick out reading about the world from the perspective of a goofy dog with attitude two inches off the ground.

We went to Houston to see our son, Shawn, for Christmas and I have to tell you I had forgotten what it is like to wake up each morning and look out the window to make sure my car is still parked where I left it. Shawn and Minna live in a condo on the east side of downtown and while their place looks like something featured on HGTV and is gorgeous, it is in what is known as an up and coming neighborhood. In other words, they build million dollar homes around slums, shanties and business areas. Young wealthy people love these places because they are central to all the ‘happening’ places in the city and let me tell you what else they are central to…crime, homeless people and lots of danger Will Robinson! I think I mentioned before Shawn was almost car jacked close to his home not long ago and now I fully understand why. It was my first visit to their new place and I was impressed but uncomfortable, if that makes sense. When we left Shawn’s to come home, we were met by a ton of HPD officers at an intersection just around the corner from his house before our exit to the freeway complete with guy in handcuffs; we made it back to San Saba in record time. We may not have a vibrant night life here or even a day life but hey, I will take a quiet life, thank you very much!

I sure got a kick out of Patches on our visit because he had a few new experiences. Shawn’s place is two story and thus Patches got to experience stairs for the first time. When we first arrived he was so happy to see Shawn he was running up the stairs after him almost taking two steps at a time. It didn’t take long before I noticed his back half waiting a bit longer at each step and by night fall and time for bed he looked at me and said,” second floor please, room three and I would like to leave a wake up call for around seven a.m.” While upstairs he would stop at Shawn and Minna’s door to see if perhaps their cats wanted to come out to say hello to him but they never would open the door. It has been determined not only do they still dislike Patches but are not too fond of us anymore since we moved in on them while running from a hurricane many years ago. One of Shawn’s cats, Buzz, used to love Harold but since that time now hisses at him when we are there. I guess we sort of wore out our welcome or Patches wore it out for us. We receive less than a warm welcome from them but an oh so warm welcome from the humans in the house, so Christmas was wonderful and Patches was a perfect guest.

We are almost through the first month of 2013 and I hope the year has started out well for you all. 2012 could have ended better for me and this one could have started better too but as you guys know I am pretty difficult to kill. My computer has been hacked and I am seriously thinking of discontinuing all online activities. It makes me sad in a way because all of my really close friends are the ones with whom I grew up and don‘t live here. Speaking of friendship, I learned my most difficult lesson ever at the close of the year and it changed me as a human being. People define friendship in different ways and being a friend means very different things to people. It is funny but sometimes being an adult is not all that different than being a kid on a playground because adults choose sides too and when they do if you are not on the side they choose you will be wrong even if you are not.

I can’t make people see the bigger picture and I realized I am too old, too tired and too fragile to keep trying. I decided it is okay as long as I still see it and if the view out my window stays as lovely, loving, kind and full of heart then that is all that really matters. I would love to have others walk beside me but I am happy to walk alone too…I enjoy my own company. I love you all but if it is okay with you guys, instead of giving away all of my heart, I will keep just a bit it for myself from now on. Until next time…