Poor Gabby!

Poor Gabby!

Last night, she was very excited about the turn of the year.  She kept checking in with Eric & myself (who had planned to turn in early for a change although in the end, we didn't) to see if we were watching the continuous coverage of Times Square and the drop of the crystal ball.  She was, I'm sure, very disappointed in our response which was lackadaisical at best.  After all, we've witnessed the changing of the year for over 50 years each (over 100 years total), and even the change in the Millineum in Los Angeles was a disappointment.  For those of you who don't remember, our city, the Entertainment Capitol of the World, chose to shine what equates to giant flashlights on to the Hollywood Sign.

Anyway, things went as they normally do with Eric and me.  Despite all good intentions, Eric did not step into the shower until about 11:30 and came back to our room at about 11:50.  He told me that Gabby was still out in the family room, parked on the sofa in front of the giant TV, watching Times Square.  (Yawn.)  But when I went out less than 5 minutes later, I was met by a shocking sight.

The dogs were awake.

Sunny, 12/31/2009

Lucy takes a short "cat nap" before joining me on my trip to the shower...

 

 

But she's right there with me as the clock is close to midnight.

The Guinea Pigs (Charlie Manson Brown/White, Jeffrey Dahmer Black/Brown) uncharacteristically are awake too.  Normally they would be asleep in their respective igloos.

Janet was wide awake, but she normally is at that time of night anyway and besides, I had made a new year's gift of a corn chip to her.  She loves her Fritos!

The TV was broadcasting, just as it should be.

But as I approached the sofa, I noticed something wrong.

Yes, it's true.  Gabby fell asleep sometime around 11:55 PM and missed the ball dropping!

I took my shower and as I returned to the bedroom, I passed by Gabby again.  I looked sadly down upon her, and as I did, Garrett joined me.  He shook his head, I grinned a little bit and said "Yup, she slept through it."

"FAIL!"  Garrett declared.  "EPIC FAIL!"

And he's right.  At least in a way.  But as I recall, the excitement of New Year's Eve fades fairly early in life, and the best part was before I was able to stay up all night and watch the ball drop.  And then the very best time was when I actually DID stay up until midnight and got to see it.  After that first time, it was all downhill.

So while I admire Gabby for her gallant attempt to stay up for the new year, and while I feel a little bad that she came so close but missed by 5 minutes, in a way I'm glad too.  Next year she will be able to get excited about it and try to stay up for the first time all over again.