August Came Early

August is usually a month of reflection. 

It's the anniversary of the untimely death of a co-worker and I make a point of thinking about where I am, what I'm doing and what I want to be doing.

August came early this year.

Last week, the band of three letters got one week's notice that our drummer was moving to Canada. Our only gig of the year is in four weeks.

On Monday night Red was "graduated" from the Hawaiian band. I couldn't imagine being in the band without her. I was time to resign. Not a difficult decision at all (and almost one made for me) but a painful one. I went to sleep in tears.

The next morning, Paws had an episode. When I took her to the vet they could not save her. I had to put her to sleep. Thank goodness for the band debacle. Gave us something else to think about.

On Wednesday, mrguy suggested that we have a graduation party in lieu of class. I went to the restaurant to resign in person, and then took my kleenex box to the pizza place and waited for our friends to show up. The four of us who have always talked of having a band but had never done anything about it will move on. Happily, we will be joined by dear friends.

And yet I'm beyond miserable. The combination of events is perhaps too much in a concentrated dose. I soothe myself with the thought that at least I'm getting it all of the bad things out of the way at once.

Next week I will be in the bosom of the family. Cheez-its, champagne. Balderdash. My vacation work is to finish my Japan blog and start writing arrangements for the new band.