Last Saturday Thomas and I went with David to have dinner with the Guthries. This is always a great occasion because the Guthries are awesome and I just don't get to see them enough. The Guthrie sons weren't there, but the girls + Lucy were--and let's face it, that's AWESOME! However, with the great joy that comes with spending time with the Guthries, I've come to expect the inevitable twinge of... I don't know... I guess sadness...? It's nobody's fault--it's just, I mean... obviously, if you're with the Guthries, you automatically think of Anne because... well... she's the reason there's so much love between our two families. Anyway, I had Thomas with me, which is pretty much the best person for any occasion--happy or sad, because he always knows just the right thing to say (and if he doesn't, he just has a really great hug). At one point in the night I was showing Mary Anne & Grace the photos from Canyon Lake. When Grace saw the photo of Penny (Anne & David's beautiful Pekingese) , she started tearing up and it just broke my heart. She kept apologizing for being "so emotional." I of course told her how silly she was being. After all, no one needs to apologize to a Nguyen about being emotional. We're a family of criers!
Wednesday came along and I got a phone call from my sister Thu informing us that Penny had died that day. She finally left us to go groak (her favorite thing to do) for some food from Anne. I was literally sick to my stomach when I got that phone call. I already wasn't feeling all that great (in fact, I was just waking from a nap when Thomas came into the room with my phone) and this certainly didn't make things better. I even went into work a couple hours late the next day because I couldn't get to bed that night. My heart was just so heavy, it felt like it was sitting at the bottom of my stomach, ready to just fall out. Penny was such a great pup. Up until this last year when she was having all her health issues, she acted just like a brand new little hyper out of control pup! She was a spastic! But my mom (who I of course had to call and sob to that night) reminded me how sick Penny had been and how much better off she is now. But I think for me, (and for a lot of other people) it was more than just Penny herself. It was Penny... and what Penny stood for--what she meant to everyone in the family. That of course was Anne, and her loving, sweet, wonderful, and beautiful ways. It felt like it was hurting all over again.
There's a line from one of my favorite Postal Service songs ("Nothing Better") that says "Your heart won't heal right if you keep tearing out the sutures." Penny leaving us felt like a strong tug at the sutures that were already barely keeping my heart together after Anne left us. I know it seems a bit over dramatic what I'm saying, but I guess that's just the way I've been feeling and needed an outlet to get it out of me.
Goodnight my dear sweet friends.
David, Thomas, and me with most of the Guthries
Anne & Penny
LOVING the blog redesign; it's so you!
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