Her xrays show a constellation of bird shot, far too much to remove. She still heads home instantly if a car backfires nearby while we're on a walk, or if someone lets off firecrackers. So she'll stay safe at home, and we'll mingle with our friends and watch Gary's amazing pyrotechnical display when it's dark enough. I love fireworks. Fire is good.
Fire is beautiful.
I'll put up with the loud noises just to see the lovely fire and sparkling lights. I'm ready for a really good party. I've had an absolutely hellish week due to a monumental mistake at work which was entirely my fault, and I'm just about ready to be nice to myself again. I won't go into details, but I will say that even though I consider myself a good travel agent I occasionally make mistakes that affect my clients. The last time I screwed up badly was 1994, for pete's sake, but I'm hard on myself, harder than I would dream of being on anyone else, and this just got to me.