In a weak moment in the Spring of 2007 Chance convinced me we should get a dog. He researched for months about the best types of dogs for our area, for children, for protection, etc. etc. etc. I wanted nothing to do with it. I've never been a "pet" person. I believe animals should live outside ... in nature .. where God intended them to live. I am totally supportive of zoos. Animals and people really aren't meant to share the same dwellings in my opinion. I think my feelings are also related to my younger sister Nicole's need to bring home every available pet she could get her hands on while I was growing up. You can only step in a pile of droppings or cat vomit so many times before it psychology destroys you. Her pets tormented me. (I do admit there have been moments after a seriously disturbing episode of CSI when I've longed for a protective family dog to keep everyone safe, but those moments don't really count.)
But I never want a puppy. Chance bought an adorable little puppy a few years ago. I say adorable meaning that it was really tiny and cute to look at from a distance. We named her Molly. The kids loved her, but she was a puppy and we had problems. She wasn't house broken, she liked to nip at the kids and she often tackled them in the yard. I knew she was just playing like any puppy would, but all that psychological damage from my childhood would combine with the mother in me to freak out whenever Molly pulled my 2 year old to the ground. Because Tyler adored her, I forced down my feelings of revulsion and accepted Molly into the family. I was resigned to my fate. Then a few weeks later, Noah had an accident. He broke his femur - his thigh bone - and was in the hospital for 2 weeks in traction and then came home in a body cast. I lived at the hospital with him and Chance juggled work, the kids and the house every day. Taking care of Molly was too much for us at that time. So, we sold her to another family that could give her what she needed. I was never so relieved in my life. Even now, I think it was all a bad dream.
It has been 2 years since Molly went to another home. The kids still talk about her all the time. Tyler tells me that he knows he'll see Molly in heaven someday. They all want another one named Molly. Emma continually talks about having a puppy:
"I want a brown puppy. It will have five legs and a dog private. And I'll put a pink chain on it and take it upstairs so it can smell things."
I'm not sure why she was thinking about dog privates. I'm trying not to think about that.
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Chance, Michaelynn, Tyler, Noah & Emma
3 comments:
too funny! I say, try it again! We are enjoying our Mt. Bernese puppy. It's all about the breed I've learned.
I'm with you. There has only been one time in my life when I really, truly swore. It was at 2 a.m. (the night before a major exam at BYU) when I was up to tell a wayward pre-teen what-for (while I was living with friends for the summer). I marched down the hall in darkness when my bare foot sunk into the puppy's pile -- in my furry I said the only appropriate thing. I named it for what it was loudly and angrily. "SH**!" It caused such laughter on my part hearing that come out of my mouth that the teen got away scott-free and I disinfected my foot and went back to bed. I have never sworn since--I've never found an equally appropriate occasion.
We do have a wonderful, large dog and she guards our family well. But she lives--most definitely--outside.
I hear you. We tried the dog thing (not puppy) for about a year, and it was just too much. We gave her back to the rescue place we got her from. My kids still talk about her too, oh well. I just can't do the indoor thing with a dog. I have enough to clean up after without adding a DOG to the mix.
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