Life with an Old Dog

Two nights ago, Dakota got in big trouble.

Beautiful Old Dog

Often when we go to sleep, she just stays out in the living room. We've never had trouble with her doing that, and so we don't worry about it.

However, the other night we had fried chicken. Evidently the smells coming from the trashcan were too much for the old girl. I woke up at about 1:30 a.m. to the sounds of her stressed panting coming from the living room. Thinking she needed to go outside, I asked Grig (which I shouldn't have done, but I don't always think well when I first wake up) to go let her outside. He got up, and Dakota came scrambling into the room and immediately laid down. Then I heard Grig make an angry sound.

Dakota had gotten into the trash, and after eating chicken bones and moldy meatballs, and suddenly needed to use the bathroom. Who knows why (said with sarcasm).

So, when Grig walked out, he found to puddles and one pile of poop. I got up to clean it up so Grig could go back to bed and Dakota slept the rest of the night outside. It's been fairly warm and she has a good coat on her, so she did just fine.

Then, yesterday we decided to go on a walk. I wasn't going to bring Dakota because she's so old and sore, but she refused to be left behind. So, we brought her with us. We weren't intending to walk very far, but two blocks away from our home we found a wallet on the ground. We looked through it to find some information about the owner, and though we found a driver's license and address, it was too far away for us to return (walking) and so we decided to take it to the police station that I had seen the other day. I knew it was within ten blocks, so we decided to find it.

It turned out to be exactly 1.3 miles away. She did okay on the way there, but on the way back, she was really struggling. I felt bad, but we only had only one way to get home.

She made it, but she was super-tired when we got there. She drank and then collapsed on the floor and said she was never moving again.

What a trooper. She reminded me of the scripture (Mark 14:38) "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

She a little sore today, but doing pretty well. Hopefully the guy got his wallet back from the police department.

Sometimes it's a bit of a struggle to have an older dog. She can't hear as well and she can be a bit of a stinker (quite literally sometimes), but I wouldn't give her away for the world. She been with me through a lot. She doesn't have long probably, but we're going to cherish the time we have. Even when it isn't always a good time, it's still time, and we get to spend it with her.

It Only Takes a Moment

A few weeks ago, I had an interesting experience. It wasn't disastrous or anything, it just scared me a bit.

We were at Deseret Industries (or DI), which is an awesome thrift store. Kevin, Grig, and I were helping Havelock buy somethings before he moved into his new apartment.

Kevin and I were taking a look at baby boy swimming trunks because we're going to be swimming this summer. Kevin was walking next to me and I spotted a really cute pair of trunks. I glanced away from Kevin and glanced back and he was gone!

I had always thought mothers were silly when they couldn't find their children among clothing racks. Now I know better. The low-hanging clothing shields tiny children from view and they can be just on the other side of it and invisible.

When I saw that Kevin was gone, my heart stopped for a second. I tried to calm myself by reassuring my brain that Kevin was just on the other side and I'd find him quickly. However, as I walked around the rack of clothing, he wasn't there!

Now I was getting a bit panicked. I looked everywhere, and I just couldn't see him.

It probably only took me a minute or so, but it felt like the longest minute of my life. When I found him, he was just standing a couple racks over with his arms dangling at his side and a smile on his face that loudly pronounced that he was up to no good. One of Kevin's favorite games is to go hide and wait for you to find him, and when you do he laughs and thinks it is great fun. This time it wasn't so fun for me. He was just fine and I was very relieved, but it took a while for my heart rate to go back down.

I'm ashamed to admit that their was a part of my mind that never thought I was going to be one of those people who lost their children in the clothing at stores. I thought that was just something that happened to kids with disobedient children (although I do remember it was great fun to hide from my mother in the racks. It was like a giant playground).

Being a mother is very humbling. Sometimes judgements you didn't even know you had are exposed and turned on their heads. It really only takes a moment for kids to take off. It doesn't matter how careful you are, it can happen to anyone, especially when your son enjoys playing games where he hides from you.

It really only takes a moment.

I am so grateful that he was fine and we quickly found him. 

We have a fantastic kid and I don't want anything to happen to him, but he does like to get into trouble sometimes. I'm not always going to be able to be there to protect him, but hopefully we can raise him to make good choices when he's on his own and we're not there to watch over him.

I know I'll be even more careful next time we're at the store and less likely to think that other mothers were being careless when their kids got lost. I only have one to keep track of, what's my excuse?

Or maybe we'll just stick to book shopping. 

It's a lot easier to find kids around the shelves of books (and more enjoyable for me).