dog ownership is not for the faint of heart

or for the weather-phobic.  For Christmas this year Nana got me a long coat, down almost to my ankles & very warm.  Thank goodness for that.  I have worn it every day, and every night since.  This morning it is rainy and gloomy.  Which is fine with me, I like a little dark weather especially when nothing severe is accompanying it but we are  fence less dog owners and while Millie is ol reliable when it comes to the business, Z not so much.  The only guarantee of a plop and a drip is an eye witness and a walk.  So 6am found me rushing into my boots and gloves and long white coat, attaching two leashes and heading out into the rain. 

Rob said to me this morning "once you got to sleep you seemed to sleep well".  NyQuil.  He said that because I have the can't breath long enough to cough but need to do both, sniffle, sore throat cold.  However I have been very blessed with the ability to sleep.  What kept me up last night?  A phone call from Sierra, the sound of bombs blasting on the ipad next to me, R saying "Lana? we need to talk....", "Lana, are you awake??", a boy in his spot and then a boy who needed "one more tuck".  I am grateful that I am a good sleeper.  I can sleep even when the PLDD looms and I just know our decoration plans are not up to last years high bar standard.  I can sleep when secrets swirl in my head, of things that aren't right in the world but aren't mine to share, or people who need help.  I can sleep when babies are laying in orphanages around the world with no one to love them.  I can sleep when my personal budget got cut in half by a dear hubby who is trying to "trim the fat".  I can sleep with the sequestering looming that is going to devastate our countries defense, and the men and women who work in that field...and by the reality of trickle down or sludge over or whatever economics the rest of the people.  I can sleep when I have disobedient children tucked into their beds and I wonder how I will ever train them up. Thankfully, for whatever reason, I can turn that off and sleep and I know that is very fortunate.  Why?  I think it's because there is nothing I can do at that moment but I know in the morning I will be needed to do lots of things, small things, nothing to do with RADAR defense, carrier ships, impoverished nations, the national debt, or even my cell phone plan...but things none the less that must be done, and I am the one to do them so at night I sleep.  And now it's 7am and I have showers to supervise, lunches to make, a carpool to drive, work to go to, a menu to plan, laundry to move.......