Puppy Love

I love my dogs they bring me so much joy and entertainment. I have two Chihuahua’s, Mona and Parker. I got Parker when he was a puppy, I named him after a character in a book that I read and fell in love with. He and I are inseparable. We adopted Mona into the family from a family member because they weren’t taking good care of her. Mona is Parker’s mom.

The other day I went into the back yard to feed the dogs left overs. I called Mona over, gave her a bone and she ran off to a part of the yard to eat it. I then called Parker, feed him some scraps, gave him a bone and he ran off to a part of the yard to eat it. I then called Mona back, feed her scraps, gave her another bone and she ran back to her spot. I called Parker back one more time to feed him the rest of the scraps, gave him one last bone and then he ran off – to another spot, leaving his first bone. Mona looks up, notices the deserted bone, runs, picks it up and takes it back to her pile. Mona is then left with three bones and Parker one. Mona, she’s one smart and sneaky dog.

Today I was standing in my dad’s room speaking with his girlfriend when I noticed through the window that Parker is sitting in the doorway of his dog house. I look at him and he starts to bark at me. “Really? You’re going to bark at me?” He walks out of the dog house to get closer to the window and starts to bark continually. “Stop barking at me!” He barks again. “Don’t make me go out there.” I glare at him. He glares back at me and barks - once more. I immediately turn, walk down the hall and out the back door into the yard. Parker runs towards the door, I bark at him and pretend to attack him and he runs back into the dog house barking all the way. Parker, he’s all bark and no bite.

My dogs make me laugh, very much. The things they do are just so silly.

Book Review: Heart to Heart

The novel is based off of the medical theory of ‘muscular memory.’ Muscular memory is the theory of how an organ can hold memories or traits of a person. There’s no proof, statistics or tests that can prove that this theory is real. However, there are a lot of stories of receptions of organ donations that say they did start doing things out of their character once they got their organ transplant. McDaniel created ‘Heart to Heart’ off of this theory.

‘Heart to Heart’ focuses on three main characters: Elowyn, Kassey, and Arabeth. Elowyn and Kassey are best friends, and have been for years. They do everything and go everywhere together. Arabeth has a weak heart and has been medically struggling to stay alive and healthy. When a tragic accident suddenly takes Elowyn’s life, her parents are left with the decision to grant their daughters last wish – to be an organ donor. With the end of Elowyn’s life, Arabeth’s life finally starts. Because of Arabeth’s heart condition she never had the chance to be a ‘real’ kid and have a ‘real’ life. With Arabeth finally living a ‘normal’ life, she realizes that some of her personality traits have changed. Arabeth finds herself saying, doing and acting in ways she’s never done before, Arabeth is convinced that her organ donor is haunting her. With the help of Elowyn’s parents, Elowyn’s boyfriend and Kassey, Arabeth discovers who Elowyn is and why Arabeth is compelled to act certain ways.

‘Heart to Heart’ was written in the perceptive of Kassey and Arabeth. The novel portrayed how Kassey felt after her best friend’s death Elowyn and how she worked through the mourning process. Once Kassey is introduced to Arabeth, Kassey deals with the situations of how much Arabeth reminders her of Elowyn. After Arabeth receives the heart transplant, not only does she need to adjust to ‘normal’ life but Arabeth is also left to deal with urges and thoughts she feels like she cannot control. Throughout the novel the memory of Elowyn unites and ties all the characters together in a somewhat familiar way.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story and I felt that McDaniel returned to her older style of writing in this novel. Some of McDaniel’s newer books, I feel, are completely different than how she wrote in her earlier novels. It was refreshing to see and read that McDaniel has not lost her touch of writing a heart wrenching story.

Peas in a Pod

My mom was born as a twin, I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned that before on this blog. I was named after my mom’s twin. The love and affection that my mom had for her sister ran deep, and vice versa.

Have you ever heard stories from twins that say they were connected together either physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually? If one of the twins ran into something the other twin would get the bruise or they both would. How one twin can do/say something as soon as the twin thinks it. Or one of the twins would feel an emotion and the other starts feeling the exact same way - for no reason.

My mom and her sister were just like this. My aunt tells me stories all the time of how connected and in-sync they were. They could finish each other’s thoughts, sentences and actions. I can tell that my aunt misses this closeness; the invisible bound that connected them together and made them one.

With moving back to Cali I’ve been staying with my aunt and her husband. My aunt and I have been able to spend some much needed time together. With our bonding we’ve discovered that some of the same things that would happen to my mom and aunt - are now happening to us.

Sure, it could be that we’re around each other so much we’re just learning each other more. Or that we’re picking up each other’s habits. Sure, that’s it! I mean, there’s no way that my aunt could run into something and I would get the bruise. There’s no way my aunt would think to do something and turn around to do it and I’m one second ahead of her. And it’s impossible that my aunt would be just about to say something (completely off subject from what we’re talking about) and I say it right before she does.

I mean, there’s no WAY that bond between twins could be pass on. Please! Psh… Ha ha.