Hair, Max, vaccine.

I cut Jeremy’s hair on Wed (I think it was Wed). I’m not a bad hair cutter, but I like to procrastinate. Jeremy’s needed a haircut for a couple of weeks (maybe 3?) and has asked politely many, many times. Many times I’ve answered sure! and then it didn’t happen. So we made an appointment – 3pm. And look, we are watching our new favorite youtube channel. Vince and Edda were hanging out with us while I did this. Don’t pay attention to the weird pants I’m wearing.

We also pulled out our old favorite games. Somehow we convinced Vince to play Trivial Pursuit circa 1996. Jeremy and I played this endlessly the winter of 2000-2001, twenty years ago when I was in a terrible mood. Jeremy would drag me out of bed and basically force me to play games of Trivial Pursuit. We gave Vince a slight advantage of having a few more tries per turn which I think is fair given that the questions were about M*A*S*H or football from the 80s. But even with the handicap, Jeremy and I totally thought we’d kick his ass and Vince was like – I’m not going to know anything. But Vince kicked our asses and I was 2nd with 5 pie pieces and Jeremy ended up with not a single pie piece. The most interesting thing we found out was that Audrey Hepburn used as pseudonym at times, the name Edda. She was Edda because she wanted a more German name and less of an English name.

During the game, Jeremy said to me – your hair looks funny, who did that to you? And I laughed and laughed because right after I cut Jeremy’s hair, we changed spots and he cut my hair. I think it looks great for a pandemic haircut.

I know there are tons of articles about this is the best year for your dog, but for whatever reason, Max’s anxiety is clearly affecting her more than it ever has before. And it is killing me. I don’t mind (though clearly Maxi minds) the daytime anxiety attacks where she stands literally 12 inches from me, tail tucked between her legs quivering and looking at me with sad, sad eyes as if she’s afraid that the world is collapsing (which it is, but I don’t tell her that). What kills me is that at night, she insists on sleeping next to me with a gentle pressure against my rib cage (which she has never done in the 10 years she has lived with us. For 10 years, she has looked for the emptiest room and then the furthest comfy spot corner to sleep in), but if I stir at all, she bolts off the bed and skitters away to only 5 minutes later come tip tip topping across the wooden floor and then she stands next to the bed and then pauses looking at me for 30 seconds and then leaps onto the bed on all fours. Standing next to me, she hangs out there for what seems like a few minutes to think about it and then turns in place like a small furry slightly unbalanced merry-go-round 4 times and then flops down next to me. But then keeps her head up, looking around all tensed up as if a fox will cross the room and she will have to go into full beagle mode. But then after 15 minutes, I feel her put her head down and then relax, but then I’m like I can not move at all otherwise I will send her shooting out from the bed and restart the whole process all over again. Add to that Vince’s comings and goings in the middle of the night that Max has to alert us to with incredible loud barking, Edda’s random wakings where we are like – is it a seizure? is it just a dream? is she just laughing her head off? and the return of my hot flashes, it does not make for the most restful night. Last night, I couldn’t take it anymore and moved into my office (which has a twin bed) to sleep. As I lay there trying to go back to sleep, I wondered if I was being kicked out of my marital bed for the foreseeable future by my dog. Jeremy is not at all disturbed by Maxi’s antics and when he wakes in the morning, Jeremy is only mildly surprised by the presence of the dog instead of me.

So yesterday, Jeremy took Max to the vet to try and get a prescription for Xanax (just kidding! only a little bit.). Turns out that Max has lost 8 pounds without trying (61 to 53), so we are running bloodwork to figure that out. And the vet didn’t give out Xanax pills, rather they gave us brochures for supplements. We laughed at this one because it comes in a diffuser form! It will treat the whole house by pumping something soothing into the air! Maybe we’ll all be able to better deal with stressful situations.

It is with some satisfaction (satisfaction is not the right word. hmmm. personal understanding?) that I read the news articles about the slow rollout of the vaccine. Remember I was number 4200ish? The first emails I got about our rollout indicated that they were planning on doing only 500 a week at my hospital! 4200/500 is a big number if you convert it to weeks. OK maybe 3500/500 because people are declining the vaccine or getting it with their other employers (lots of people work two jobs). But it’s still a big number. But somehow they managed to step up the pace and my email came up and I have an appointment! Monday morning at 8 am which is approx 2 weeks after the first shots were given at my hospital. I think they are trying to get everyone done before the 2nd doses are due!