Sometimes, a dog is just a dog, and sometimes not

(My friend just got a new dog, and she blogged about memories and the way this new dog stirs her. I started to comment on her post, but then the words and thoughts grew too many.)

I had to put my beloved Tyler the dog down about a year after my Dad died, I think. I loved that old dog. When I sat holding him while he passed from this world, I cried. I wrapped him in a blanket and took him home. It comforts me to know that he came home with me. Of course, I stayed with him through to the end.

He always stayed with me. He sat beside me and comforted me when I was in labor, when no one else was there...when my then-current husband was either at work for the first pregnancy or boffing his girlfriend during my second pregnancy.

Sometimes, a dog seems like a lot of work - the never-ending circle of let me out and let me in over and over - and the constant barking, whining, crying to be included in every aspect of family life. Isn't that like any relationship though? It's work, sometimes harder than you want, but sometimes great fun. Just because the dog is sometimes annoying, irritating, sassy, you don't give up. You can yell at a dog, and he still comes running back to you full of hope and love in his eyes. Maybe some people should just have a dog?

Of course, people who are bad with people might also be bad with dogs. Dogs are practice children. They are responsibility without too much worry. My ex loves my current dog, pets him, plays with him. Too bad for the ex that he hasn't seen Rascal in 14 months. Maybe some people will never understand? Maybe some people shouldn't even have a dog?

My dog gives and gives and gives even more. I love that old dog!

unfinished sentences...

Here are my words to Maria's unfinished sentences...

I've come to realize my ex is: a selfish bore who is more concerned with himself than with our children. That's my problem only in the way that it affects my beautiful children. He is the one missing out on all the wonder and beauty and fun of them.

I talk: way more now than I ever did as a kid. My friends say I never spoke until junior high. I was painfully shy.

I love: completely.

I lost: myself and then was found. I had a friend who said that in Paris. Oh wait, that was Julia Ormond who said that in the movie Sabrina. I think we all lose ourselves some time, but we come out of the coccoon like a beautiful butterfly. Hold on...that one's from A Bug's Life.

I hate it when: people (including me) are stupid.

Love is: all around. awesome. true.

Marriage was: not what it was supposed to be. Marriage could be: wonderful.

I'll always be: me.

My cell phone is: my lifeline to be family.

When I wake up in the morning: I let the dog out. Let's see...I let him out at 1:00 a.m. and then at 1:30 a.m. and then at 4:00 a.m. and then at 5:00 a.m. Bad Rascal! (Bad night for Rascal, usually, just once when I get up.)

Before I go to sleep at night: I make my kids go to sleep.

Right now I am thinking about: everything! Everything I need to do today and everything I should have done already.

Babies are: always my babies, no matter how old they are.

I get on MySpace: never.

Today I Will: do the best that I can.

Tonight I: will Sophie to music therapy and then work on Christmas cards.

Tomorrow I will: do the best that I can.

I really want to: get married to a wonderful man and move into the country and have a barn full of animals so that my children and I can breathe. (We currently breathe, but in the previous sentence, breathing is symbolic for a simpler, sweeter life.)

The person who is most likely to repost this: ???

thankful for...because...

I am thankful for...
my Children, because they are who they are. They make me proud and bring me unbelievable joy.
my Mother, because she is strength and honor and love.
my Father, because he was not perfect, but his heart and mind persevered until his body could not.
my Siblings, because even when they are too near or too far away, they make me feel loved and safe, wrapped inside a special cocoon.
my Divorce, because if it hadn't happened, I would be at my in-laws right now, and it's snowing there...lake-effect snow. Snow...bad.
my Chelsea Friends, because each one has a special talent and goodness that she brings into the world that makes it shine for the better.
my Work Friends, because how could we all get through 5 days a week without the laughter and support.
my Furnace Man, because he's coming over to service my furnace tomorrow (literally, not symbolically).
the Meijer on Jackson Rd., because they had 2 planters, and I finally, finally re-potted most of the plants in my house. (Probably not the best time of year to do so, but I got it DONE.)
my Dog, because he gives me unconditional love, and I have no idea what I will do with him tomorrow when the furnace man shows up. Come to think of it...what will I do with my children?