olá people,
you may not be aware, but the person writing this newsletter (me) is a 46 year-old who is legally married to a 41 year-old. that's hot, right? older woman/younger man. mostly, it just makes me feel ooooollllldddddd. we aren't in the same marketing age demographic. watching him reminds me that my knees were more spry at 41. plus, my face is melting and his is obscenely full of collagen. sigh.
p.s. if you are 38 or younger, invest in preventative care of those joints. for real!

the writer of this newsletter (again, me) has two cats. two weeks ago it was one cat. one month ago it was a cat and a dog. six months ago it was a human only household.
this story may make you not like me.
the adults in my life were dog lovers but i came out of the womb a cat person. me at nine: cat wall paper, garfield birthday cake, heathcliff pijamas (iykyk). i had cats until my teenage years and then i spent all of my 20's without. in my late 30's, i got back to my roots. after rescuing a few, there were three cats in the house. that went down to one in 2019 (i was married before, which is hard to believe, and we divvied up the cats in the divorce).
my soul cat (anita) died in 2020, through my negligence, and i swore i wouldn't get another one till i was emotionally and financially prepared to go all the way. right as i was adopting my perfect little feline prince at the end of november 2024, my sister-in-law was offering up puppies. her dog is intact (don't be a judgy person and judge), and as the dog is somewhat of a roamer, she got pregnant. to be expected. we decided to adopt a puppy. i was 45 at the time and had convinced myself i was a dog person. all the cool people are (aka my bestie and brother)!
come to find out that i am not a dog person. my husband is not (this we already knew). my kid is so-so. the puppy was a nightmare. does anyone talk about what you do if you adopt and don't like the animal? or do only soulless demons like myself experience this?
i paid for tons of dog training and bought all the toys and was miserable every second of every day. i got the puppy vaccinated, neutered (which is why i don't judge those who don't—it is so much more work than i ever imagined), and cleaned paws after walks. i did all the deeds but geez, what a drag.
and then my husband's business partner fell in love with the dog. wanted to adopt her.
miracles do happen.
your author (we all know it's me) thinks it is interesting how someone or something can be misery and torture for one and joy and glitter for another (for example, my horrible ex-husband remarried, aforementioned puppy is so loved, and millions voted for trump). it's all so fascinating…
so there you have it, a few details about the person behind the words. maybe you like her, maybe you hate her, but whatever you feel you can rest assured that someone else out there feels differently.
check ya later dudes (i may be the only person over 40 who uses dude non-ironically, it's legitimately a solid part of my vocabulary),
m