It’s been a long week.

Monday morning I was doing my typical rush-rush to leave the house, and as I sat impatiently waiting for the slow as effing molasses gate to ease it’s way open and release me, I gazed across the street. On the sidewalk was Pepe - my neighbors cat. He was laying on his side facing me and though his eyes were open, his soul was clearly no longer present.

I pulled back into our lot and walked up to my neighbors door. I held her infant while she went to confirm the identity of her pet, and I was as much at a loss for words as I would have been if Pepe had been a human.

She moved to Atlanta from New Orleans, leaving her boyfriend and family behind in an attempt to start over and do what’s right for her. She’s known a good deal of tragedy in the past few years and to say my heart went out to her when she tried to stop the tears from spilling down her face doesn’t even begin to cover it.

So it’s been that kind of week for me…which means my perspective has been reset to one of gratefulness (even if I am still horribly impatient) and that I’m determined to write a different story for myself next week.