It's funny because everybody kept going on and on about what a sad week it's been with all of its celebrity deaths, but I never really started crying myself 'till yesterday when my mom called me to tell me that our little dog Scarlet woke up feeling awful and probably wasn't going to live much longer.  Then I cried and cried, even though Scarlet was fourteen and a half and I'd been preparing myself for the worst ever since last Thanksgiving when I first saw her really looking old and having a hard time getting around.
But even though I'd been expecting a phonecall like that I'd been dreading it all the same--it's the sort of call I seriously used to get nightmares about receiving.  Scarlet's been as close as family to me ever since we got her almost 14 years ago when I was just around 14 myself, awkward and nervous and on the verge of a scary year of back braces and scoliosis surgery and my first year of high school to boot.  I was shy and scared of just about everything, so I think that Scarlet's loyal, calm nature was the best thing for me . . .  I latched on to her.  High school was the worst for me, but at the end of every day of it I always knew I had Scarlet to meet me at the door when I got home. . .  she'd lay at the foot of my bed while I read or wrote, and whenever I talked to her I was sure she knew exactly what I was saying.  Also, whenever I played David Bowie and T. Rex. albums for her I was sure that she loved them!
When I went away to college I didn't get to see her nearly as much, but I always worried about her, and every time my mom called sounding the least bit sad I'd get terrified that something had  happened to Scarlet.  Well, when I got the call yesterday I knew that the time had finally come, and it was true . . .  Just a little while later my mom called to tell me that Scarlet was gone, and we both cried and cried.  I still can't get through a couple of hours without crying.  I'm pretty much useless right now, so there won't be any outfit posts this week, though I'll do my best to keep up regular posts, even though I don't know how terrific they'll be.  My mind's really somewhere else, I guess.