15 Jan, 2008..you know it's winter when...

....it's -23 and you're wishing for it to go all the way up to 0 degrees, just to stop your nipples from freezing off!

It's hard to believe Rob's been gone for three weeks. Then again, it feels like the longest three weeks of my entire life (and I've had me some long weeks). Sometimes the mornings are worse, perhaps in part because that's the time of day we pretty much always had together. Sometimes though, it's the evenings. With Rob being such an insomniac, and me not being one (until recently, falling asleep was never a problem!), he used to tell me how lonely it could be during the evening when I was sleeping, and how much he missed me. I never truly understood what he meant, until now.

Rob and I kept odd hours at times. He was very much a night-owl, and I'm more of a "regular hours" kind of gal. But during those small hours of the morning we would generally cherish each other a little more, as I'd just woken up and he was about to go crash. But really, what I wanted to write today was a bit of a cute memory. OK, it's really cute. Bear with me!

Every now and then Rob would bring home a plush animal from one of the thrift stores. He knew I liked the more cutesy animals - bunnies, penguins, lambs - while he gravitated more towards coyotes and things that went "Grrr" or "roar" or "let me bite your head please". So, over time we'd managed to gather about 25 of these critters, and they all lived (they were "our childrens" - yes, plural intended) on the back of the futon. The cutesy ones towards one end, where I sat, and the more uh...carnivorous folk lived towards the other end, where Rob would sit.

Occasionally, I'd wake up, wander into the living room and do a double take. Mr Coyote seemed to have moved a couple of spaces...and seemed really, really intent on making his way over to where Mr Lamby and Mr Floppsy were sitting, minding their own business. I'd say..

"Hmm...I don't remember Mr Coyote being that far along the sofa...."

To which Rob would reply, in the cutest little Savannah accent,

"Ah think Mr Coyote thinks that's a "all y'all can eat" buffet right there....Ah think he's a lil hungry...."

Tess: "You tell Mr Coyote that he's vegetarian!"

Rob: "Ah think he thinks that Mr Lamb is a vegetal....maybe a carrot...ah think he just gonna take a nibble, just to see.... "

OK, that was probably much cuter to me than it would be to anyone else, but it's a memory that makes me smile.

Peace.