By Margi Washburn
"So, basically, you bought a calendar to remind us of one of the biggest mistakes we've ever made. And we get to look at it every day this year."
Hubby was paging through one of the new calendars I'd bought, and silly me, I thought he'd love it. It was special, twelve months of labrador retrievers, and more than half of them could have been our very own Sarah."Don't you like it?" I asked. There was a sigh, a smile, and then a pat on the dog's head. "I guess," he said, as he hung it on the kitchen wall.
I don't blame anyone for their lack of enthusiasm about the calendars I buy. They're important to me, and although I haven't figured out just why, I look forward to finding the half dozen new ones that find their way into our home every January.
Some are free, and they come in various forms. There's the little cardboard one from a local gas station that I keep on my desk at work. Someone gave me one they got in the mail, along with a Farmer's Almanac. That went on the wall in front of my computer at home.The huge desk calendar with lots of big squares is to my left in my home office. I write social and work reminders on that one, and cross off each day in light blue marker.
The one to my right is small and thin and I use it to keep track of my working hours. It used to go in my purse, but I keptignoring it there.Usually our youngest will buy me a Get Fuzzy page-a-day calendar for Christmas, but this time I bought my own. I love getting my favorite comic strip for half price, and I get 365 strips for under six bucks. How could anyone pass that up?
So, I guess that's about six calendars, and four of them are in one room. A psychiatrist would have a blast with that information.Tracking the days, weeks, and months isn't all I do. We go through heck on earth whenever it's time to change the clocks, whether it's that time of the year or the electricity goes off. Between our wristwatches, the VCRs, and the dozen clocks, we're about ready to pull our hair out by the time we'refinished.
Does having this many reminders mean that we're always on time for appointments and parties? Actually, yes, it does. But I think my fascination with calendars has become more pronounced over the years simply because there are so many to choose from.
For instance, we already had the doggy calendar, and all of the labs are adorable, but we were in a real, honest-to-goodness pet store one day, and I saw the other half of Sarah. We now know she's a lab and Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, so when I saw a calendar of Ridgebacks, I got excited. Thankfully, hubby was there to pour water all over my enthusiasm with one withering glance, though we did check out every picture. Yup, here was Sarah, too, with the line down her back, the dark brown toenails, and the wrinkly forehead.
That wasn't all I found in that store, and if I'd been alone, our bank balance would have been much lighter than it is now. There was a gigantic ball of twisted rope, one of our pup's favorite things in the world to chew on, and it was just under $30. Thing is, Sarah manages to completely shred any ropes we buy, no matter how tough they appear to be. It would be easier to simply put a lighted match to our money and watch it burn, because too many of our pet toys end up in the trash bag within half an hour after they meet our dog.
In retrospect, it could be that as I get older I've become more obsessed with time, but I don't think so. I think we all want to have places to go and people to see. It's comforting to fill in those blank squares with lunch dates and shopping trips, and reminders that our lives are full. Time is precious, and though none of us needs a calendar to tell us that, it's nice to know there are so many perfect ones to choose from. That goes especially for the one hanging in my kitchen.
"So, basically, you bought a calendar to remind us of one of the biggest mistakes we've ever made. And we get to look at it every day this year."
Hubby was paging through one of the new calendars I'd bought, and silly me, I thought he'd love it. It was special, twelve months of labrador retrievers, and more than half of them could have been our very own Sarah."Don't you like it?" I asked. There was a sigh, a smile, and then a pat on the dog's head. "I guess," he said, as he hung it on the kitchen wall.
I don't blame anyone for their lack of enthusiasm about the calendars I buy. They're important to me, and although I haven't figured out just why, I look forward to finding the half dozen new ones that find their way into our home every January.
Some are free, and they come in various forms. There's the little cardboard one from a local gas station that I keep on my desk at work. Someone gave me one they got in the mail, along with a Farmer's Almanac. That went on the wall in front of my computer at home.The huge desk calendar with lots of big squares is to my left in my home office. I write social and work reminders on that one, and cross off each day in light blue marker.
The one to my right is small and thin and I use it to keep track of my working hours. It used to go in my purse, but I keptignoring it there.Usually our youngest will buy me a Get Fuzzy page-a-day calendar for Christmas, but this time I bought my own. I love getting my favorite comic strip for half price, and I get 365 strips for under six bucks. How could anyone pass that up?
So, I guess that's about six calendars, and four of them are in one room. A psychiatrist would have a blast with that information.Tracking the days, weeks, and months isn't all I do. We go through heck on earth whenever it's time to change the clocks, whether it's that time of the year or the electricity goes off. Between our wristwatches, the VCRs, and the dozen clocks, we're about ready to pull our hair out by the time we'refinished.
Does having this many reminders mean that we're always on time for appointments and parties? Actually, yes, it does. But I think my fascination with calendars has become more pronounced over the years simply because there are so many to choose from.
For instance, we already had the doggy calendar, and all of the labs are adorable, but we were in a real, honest-to-goodness pet store one day, and I saw the other half of Sarah. We now know she's a lab and Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, so when I saw a calendar of Ridgebacks, I got excited. Thankfully, hubby was there to pour water all over my enthusiasm with one withering glance, though we did check out every picture. Yup, here was Sarah, too, with the line down her back, the dark brown toenails, and the wrinkly forehead.
That wasn't all I found in that store, and if I'd been alone, our bank balance would have been much lighter than it is now. There was a gigantic ball of twisted rope, one of our pup's favorite things in the world to chew on, and it was just under $30. Thing is, Sarah manages to completely shred any ropes we buy, no matter how tough they appear to be. It would be easier to simply put a lighted match to our money and watch it burn, because too many of our pet toys end up in the trash bag within half an hour after they meet our dog.
In retrospect, it could be that as I get older I've become more obsessed with time, but I don't think so. I think we all want to have places to go and people to see. It's comforting to fill in those blank squares with lunch dates and shopping trips, and reminders that our lives are full. Time is precious, and though none of us needs a calendar to tell us that, it's nice to know there are so many perfect ones to choose from. That goes especially for the one hanging in my kitchen.
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