Good Morning Taylor,

We are on the other side of Ragdoll’s three week vacation, which didn’t really amount to anything. The first week was mostly cleaning house, and we did it! It’s spic-and-span clean, right down to awful scrubbing of yucky stuff. Now if we can keep it that way. The second week was a lot of visiting friends and family. And while that’s nice, it’s still work, and not all that relaxing. The third week was when it was all supposed to happen. And really it didn’t. A trip to see lights fell apart at the last minute, we had bills due as well, we didn’t expect and after a while we banked on a bonus Ragdoll was supposed to get to make a trip to the ocean happen. By Thursday, we canceled that trip because we never knew if we were getting paid or not.

Monday was my birthday, and we’d planned to spend the weekend before at the ocean. And for the third time, we’ve had to cancel our reservations.

There are a few days that could all be my birthday. The day that I was created was sometime in September of 2001, I think. I don’t know the exact day, but Ragdoll knows it. And then there’s the day that I came out for the first time, which was December 31st a few months later. Ragdoll didn’t know it at the time, but I was out that day for New Year’s because I wanted to see fireworks, and when I didn’t see fireworks I just wanted to look around.

And then there’s January 5th. January 5th was the day that I came out for real, with you right there to help me out. And it’s the day that I’ve decided is going to be my birthday.

We had made reservations sometime ago, and on those reservations we tried to make sure that the money was going to be there for our trip to the ocean, but things just kept coming up over and over and over again. That was okay because we had a bonus coming, and when the bonus came, we would be able to go to the ocean. But the bonus didn’t happen either. There was a mistake on the company’s end that did get it deposited. So instead of having weekend at the ocean, like I’ve been trying to have for months now, we were struggling to find groceries.

I was really disappointed. I was so, so sad, and really, really hurting when we lost the reservations for the hotel.

But Ragdoll did something that I thought was really sweet of her, and she took me to go see the Tulalip Lights, which looked amazing. So many colors, and so many bright lights, and so many trees all lit up, and so many different colors. It was so wonderful.

It really did end up taking the edge off of a disappointing weekend. But the weekend came, and we just kind of cleaned house and didn’t do much else. So it was still a bit of a disappointment.

And then on the 5th, Ragdoll went to work, and when she came home we switched, and when we switched, there was a dinner waiting for me. A nice gyro dinner! With cake and sweet tea, which I’m not a big fan of, but the thought was what counted. She made me feel real special that day. So I had my dinner and listened to music, and then when I went into the back room I noticed that there was a note on the computer. And the note said, your birthday isn’t over today.

Which was kind of creepy.

The next day, Monday, she was busy working all day, and then today, Tuesday, she came home and worked on a few things and then let me out to have the rest of my day. And when I came to, there were three miniature toy crows looking at me. They were so adorable. There’s one of Junior and one of Mr. Crow and one of Mrs. Crow. And they were just kind of sitting there on the table watching me as I was lying on the couch. And I loved it. They were so cute.

So she really saved my birthday, and I’m glad she did because it was a real disappointment for a while there, but it’s nice to know that she was able to take it and give me at least a few things that we could afford to have fun with.

This morning was a nice end to the week, too. On Ragdoll’s drive into work with The Artist, I was there instead of Ragdoll. And The Artist took us out for coffee. This was the first time I’ve ever gone out, like really out, and spent time with anyone in public. Not just part of the people parade anymore, actually being here, with someone, with others. Experiencing real friendship together in public. That was so so so nice.

That bonus is supposed to come in sometime this weekend, and if it does, we’ll see about doing something fun with a little bit of the money, and we’ll stash the rest away somewhere.

I hope you’re enjoying your work trip. I know it’s summer where you are, which is really cool. Summer in January is a novelty, but I hope you’re having fun out there, and I hope that you will come home safely soon.

–Andrea