Tuesday, December 25, 2012

I Tried.

The dog I tried to help save on Christmas day...
 
E-mail I sent out to our Lake's association:  "Merry Christmas!  I hope this e-mail finds you well.  This afternoon as I was out for a run I came across a near frozen, poodle-like dog on Sand Lake’s north shore.  The dog was shivering (probably facing hypothermia) and unable to walk.  I wrapped the dog in my sweatshirt, ran back home, and returned shortly after with my car to pick it up.
 
 
The dog is now warmed up and safe in our basement.  However, we need YOUR HELP in locating the dog’s owner.  The dog has no tags, nor a collar.  But here is a pic (attached), that we hope will help you, help us, identify the owners."
 
* Sadly, the dog's health is poor; apparently he has been neglected for quite some time. Our neighbor, a vet, stopped by this evening and explained this 12 to 15 yr old cockapoo with rotted teeth, infected ears, and dementia would probably need to be put to sleep tomorrow.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Further Down 94

And so I picked him up at the airport shortly after 3, and we ventured east on Highway 94 to his Grandma's place, located on the outskirts of Detroit.  We exited and kept our direction, until we dead ended at Lake Shore Drive.  We then drove north along Lake Saint Claire and I admitted to him, this is Michigan territory I had never explored before.

He pointed out a few notable sites along the way and explained Henry Ford's son use to live a bit further up the way.  We were in Grosse Pointe - what wikipedia describes, "an affluent suburb of Detroit."  Much of the neighborhood was comprised of homes built when the automotative industry was booming.

It's fascinating how the ideas of one man can completely revolutionize a city - and a world too, actually.  Henry Ford's invention of the assembly line made cars affordable for "common" man.  As a result, the city and suburbs of Detroit thrived for quite some time.  But now, most people with a decent income, tend to live outside the city.  And Detroit is not on anyone's top 10 list of US cities to visit.

But my brother lives in the city.  And despite the fact he has had 3 cars stolen, he loves it.











Sunday, December 23, 2012

The NonGirlfriend

Tonight, once again, I played the role of the nongirlfriend.  This is two Christmas holidays in a row, where I've ended up back home - someone else's home - chatting with some guy's parents and sweet,  old grandma.

Both guys - just friends, yet I feel like I'm some sort of fill in for what should be played by a girlfriend.  It's okay though; I'm a decent actress and I can hold a conversation with nearly anybody.  And for the most part, I really do enjoy participating.

And the reverse is true.  Over the summer I had a couple of nonboyfriends make their rounds at my family's lake home.  My Aunt Mary inquired about one, "What's wrong with him?"  He was the second one I had brought home within 2 weeks and she wanted to know why I wasn't dating either one of them.

Again, just friends.  I have about a half dozen single, guy friends where it's kind of just like that...

However, I'll admit, it's odd to have some of these experiences involving family with guys that are just friends - especially now that I'm in my mid-thirties.  Because these types of moments are seemingly reserved for the boyfriend.  But since I don't have one of those; I'll continue to play the role of nongirlfriend. 







  




Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Beginning

If last night was the end, today must be the beginning.  The good news is, every day is a new beginning.  And as my mom once told me, "You never know what life is going throw you."  On a somber day in my early twenties, she insisted, life is worth the living.

Last night I celebrated the end of the Mayan calendar with the guys from down the shore.  There were 5 guys, me, and one wife.  The guys grilled out on in the December freeze - 30 degree temps, and even colder with the fierce wind blowing.  After a steak dinner, I learned how to play poker and how to cook crawfish simultaneously.

At midnight we paused from poker to ring in the beginning.  With REM's song turned up, we dance and obnoxiously sang along.  "It's the end of the world as we know it - and I feel fine."

Not that I really thought the end of the world was going to happen last night, but I did in the late 80s.  Some crazed man predicted the end and as an impressionable youngin I believed his prediction very well may come true.  I hadn't yet read much of the Bible yet, so I didn't know people who claim the Bible as truth aren't supposed to make end of the world predictions.

It was summer, I think, and I considered, wow - this is great.  I'll never have to go to school again.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Shooting Stars

Thursday evening, shortly after checking in to my PA hotel, I tweeted, "shooting stars - lots of them. no wishes made. a happy heart driving through PA. is THIS really happening? grateful and amazed by God."

It's still unknown if THIS job opportunity is a go. But as I wrote a friend today, "the crazy thing is, this job would have a lot of down time where I'd just need to be around. Those that interviewed me were thilled to learn I'm a writer and would have something else to do to keep me happily occupied. From what I've experienced in the hiring process thus far, I sense God's favor in opening the doors."

I'll be okay if it's a no, yet I'm hopeful the momentum will continue until it is a go.

Friday I continued my drive back Michigan. I had flown one way to LGA the previous Saturday and was driving a U-Haul back for a family friend who had recently transferred over his NYC apartment lease to an author named Eric M.

My family friend needed a large load driven back to my birth town of Owosso, Michigan. I signed up for the truck driving venture so my travel expenses out to the city for my job interview would be covered.

Less that two hours shy of my Friday night destination, I stopped in Ann Arbor to join my brother and parents for my brother's 37th birthday dinner. By then we had all received word of the Connecticut shooting. 

Tonight (Sunday), Obama spoke to the grieving community, and in doing so quoted the following Scripture:

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardl we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

AND

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  Matthew 19:13-15

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

NYC Interview

NYC Interview Day 2

Yesterday the HR man told me it seems I'm "a match made in heaven" for this position. God, would that be true?

Today I returned to the offices for a second round of interviews.  This job may very well be the right fit for me - because, you see, it would enable me to pursue writing simultaneously.  I'd be well-financed and situated to write the books and articles that have been sitting inside of me.

My former coworker Nick would shake his head in disbelief and say, "Only you, Katrina.  Only you."

Why me?  I'm not sure.  But I'll take it.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Back So Soon

When I left the city 3 Sundays ago, I thought it would be months, perhaps years before I'd returned to New York.  I thought I was done with the East Coast , convinced I'd return to my West Coast home. 

But yesterday afternoon I took a flight back to LGA and when I stepped off the plane, I was all smiles.  When I stepped foot inside my temporary sublet in the Upper West Side, the doorman to the apartment complex warmly welcomed me.  "You're back!"  I explained I had a job interview.

Later in the night my friend Bethanie and I reunited at our favorite gathering spot - George Keeley's, between 83rd and 84th Streets.  Although I received the job possibility through a girl in my Bible Study, I discovered this past week my friend Bethanie already works for the same family.  Oh, the irony.  She explained over dinner she is the one who crafted the job description.

After dinner the guys from the table beside us joined us, and we spent the remainder of the evening in their company.  We ventured down to Chelsea in a cab - conversing at the Beer Garden and then dropping by the Jane Hotel briefly.  The two men are from San Diego and do work in the non profit realm.  As it turns out, I'll see them both tomorrow at Charity: Water's seventh annual ball.

Today I ran Central Park in wonderment that I was back on its trails.  The ducks at the South Pond seemed to abound - 50, perhaps 60, all near the edge of the shore.  I wish he could have seen them.

Tonight, following church, I attend two different Christmas parties.  One involved church people, and the other, students I worked with at The King's College.  The only non college students present were two other writers who are much more impressive than me - Gabe Lyons and Alissa Wilkinson. 

Gabe wrote a book call The Next Christian and founded an organization called Q Ideas.  Alissa, for now, writes shorter articles, but will one day present her own masterpiece.