Comings and Goings

Thursday after Christmas and the chaos has ramped up, become more pronounced. We’ve all lost our car keys, three-and-a-half drivers, three cars, someone always parked in the way. Friends coming and going. My husband’s friend dreams they are married, but only in a congenial, nonsexual way. The dogs are loose in the confusion of opening and shutting doors; they're running, brawling with the neighbor dogs, chomping the neighbor guy’s thumb that tries to intervene. Grandma is putting together a puzzle in the corner. She prays at every meal, Thank you, Lord, that we’re all together. I’m praying that the neighbor guy’s thumb is okay and that no one comes to drag my jackass dog away.