Maria and I just concluded our longest separation from one another since we met fix or six years ago. We talked about missing each other, and I told her how lucky I felt I was to have someone in my life that I missed, that life is hardly worth living if you don’t have anything to miss. I missed Maria, but I was too busy to dwell on it, and so was she. She has a lot of friends, and she ran around with most of them all day Saturday.

She and Red did a lot of sheepherding together, and there were no signs that he missed me either. I never make a big deal of coming or going, so my dogs don’t either. Lenore did bring me a smelly rawhide, and I got a tick off of Frieda’s neck. Ah, home…Minnie has to stay in the house for another week, says the vet, she hasn’t quite learned how to hop up on things yet, and besides, she is finding Maria’s lap a warm and inviting place to be. More on that tomorrow,

In a sense this was an important weekend for Maria and I, we did miss one another, and quite a bit, but we are also reminded that life has it’s own story and pace, and life goes on. Still, when I saw her waiting for me at the Albany Airport, I just wanted to melt, I thought, is this my girl, is this girl mine? And I didn’t wake up from the dream. We talked 100 times during the trip and texted another 100 but we had another hour-and-a-half of catching up to do on the way home. Dinner in the car was popcorn from Garrett’s in Chicago, an apple and some water.

Tomorrow I have to pick up my mail from my P.O. Box 205 and resume Minnie’s Journal. The saga is not over yet.