I know you’re not supposed to start a new post by apologizing for not posting, but I must, for I am sorry. Possible excuses you might accept: I’m lazy? Out of practice? It’s been surprisingly hard for me to act jolly online lately? Why should I do my homework when the universe is expanding?
Leaving your job is one of those top-five life-shaking events, along with moving, and the death of a spouse or parent or child, and maybe the pandemic finally made that list, too, congrats all around. So, sure, I still feel dazed from all of that sometimes, but thanks to therapy and a loving partner it’s a big step up from feeling nothing at all. Which, if you know me, I used to be quite good at.
Jackson has been through all the same stuff, plus leaving school and then being stuck at home with me when he should be out living his life in a welcoming world, but the unconscionable price of rent in this town is making that dream impossible. The rent’s bad everywhere, but it seems especially punishing here in his hometown.
In 1993 you could get a decent one-bedroom in Santa Barbara for $500 a month, which was just about affordable if you worked at Kinkos and made $8 an hour — I worked in bookstores and made $6.25 so I needed a boyfriend or roommates to help cover rent, but whatever, everyone could survive and go out drinking once a week.
In the Santa Barbara of 2023, minimum wage is $15 and the same one-bedroom is $2,700 a month.
So when I go on social and see people calling for a general strike, or melting down because they can’t make ends meet, I think: this is no time for me to write a post about my dog’s favorite TV shows.
Willy likes to watch:
The YouTube channel where you watch a dog taking a walk through the woods from the dog’s POV;
The one that shows birds and squirrels eating seeds and berries off a rock where someone has placed a whole critter buffet, although I have to change channels when he starts growling and barking at the screen;
The aquarium channel with jellyfish and soothing music.
Penny likes:
To sleep in her little Lamb Chop bed like a pretty princess;
For her hair to grow so fast that she needs a haircut every eight weeks, because her legs get so furry that it looks like she’s wearing little cowgirl chaps;
To lick all the special dog enzyme toothpaste off the little green brush before I brush her teeth, which she now tolerates either because she knows how important her dental health is or because she knows that I am not going to stop;
When I tuck her in at bedtime under a blanket on her side of the couch and give her a little kiss on the head.
Things Cassie and Richard, who are cats, like:
To go outside and lie in the sun;
To come back inside and lie on the couch;
To go inside our neighbor’s house and eat their cat’s food which makes their cat, George, unhappy (Richard does this);
To lie on Jackson’s chest and purr while he sleeps (Cassie).
Things Jackson, who is a human, likes:
To wake up, move Cassie’s ass out of his face, and ask me what there is to eat, as though I have the inventory of our refrigerator memorized like a waiter who wants you to hear today’s specials;
To then make big sad eyes and ask me to pleeease make him a peanut butter and banana sandwich with honey on buttermilk bread with a glass of milk before he goes to work, which I do about half the time because I love him and he’ll be gone one day and I’ll miss him and also he has a cat on his chest;
To hope to someday earn enough money to live a decent life and have a family of his own.
