Shake it out

I have had a really rough Thanksgiving weekend. My beloved cat Alfie went into respiratory distress on Wednesday, and I will spare you the whole dramatic retelling (traffic, a long car ride, a lot of fear, how broke I am going to be for some time), but it was not fun. This was also the first year I have ever eaten Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, so I was already going to be feeling out of sorts a little (I really love Thanksgiving & I miss cooking for my fam), although I was there with friends and it was a pretty fantastic gastronomic delight. (+Wine pairings! So. Good.) But it was still weird. Especially with the cloud of not knowing about Alfie until later that night hanging over my head. But I was thankful for a lot - thankful for my friend/coworker who immediately volunteered to go with me and ended up driving my car so I could sit with Alfie and really went above and beyond in being super supportive all day Wednesday. Thankful that I did have friends to invite me to eat with them and offer some supportive thoughts and ensure I wasn't totally alone. And I am especially thankful for the vets, and that while Alfie might be a little tired and grumpkiny today- he is sitting in the sun on the window ledge pretty much like normal.

So for this Black Friday - I am feeling better, though still a little overwhelmed with having to manage Alfie's meds from now on (the weight of it is unexpected), and the uncertainty of the future - which I know is all around us all the time, but we sometimes can slip past it without confrontation for a long time and try not think about these things too much; but not forever. An unexpected Thanksgiving season chain of events, that's for sure. No crazy shopping for me. I am trying to resist the urge to buy an unnecessary sequin party dress. So far so good.

For videos today I offer three selections - 2 songs that I heard on hold while calling to check on Alfie Wednesday night/Thursday morning at his emergency animal hospital that were weirdly interesting and moving to me at the time (illusory pattern perception, maybe - I know it's just nice quiet/bland music they play on hold) and 1 that has been bouncing around in my head and I thought might be a nice closer.

"Thank You For Being A Friend" - Andrew Gold  - (the hair/beards... are alone worth seeing)





"Let's Get Together" - The Youngbloods



And finally - gotta' keep moving forward / looking ahead so-

"Shake it Out" - Florence + The Machine - I love that this video is so over-the-top drama all the way - the dresses, the masquerade party, a seance, dancing... A lot going on, all very gorgeous. However, this has to fall into my category of videos of people at a party which make me happy I don't go to parties - as most party videos do, they mostly look terrible to me, people 'having a good time' but not really... but this is my own personal bias because I'm not a fan of huge parties. Perhaps this is one of the underlying themes of sadness and bitterness (among many other feelings/memories/things) that could therefore be shaken out/off?