A New Chapter

How terrible that I haven't blogged since November!? I thought several times about a few things on my heart that I wanted to write about in December, yet, the business of the season interfered and alas=no posts...

Meet Solomon...or King Solomon Thaddeus Williams...Mark and I had been talking "dog" a bit more seriously after we returned from our trip to California.  Puppy or young dog? Pure bred or rescue? Lab or Pit Bull or other? My one criteria was that we did NOT do something amidst all the Xmas chaos--my days and nights were filled this year and I did not want the pressure of a new anything to add to the madness.  We saw an ad for "golden lab puppies" in the paper about 2 weeks before Christmas...and it got us thinking. We kept an eye on it to see if the price would go down...The Saturday after Christmas we decided on a whim to give a call.  When we were told they had no females left, we kinda thought it was a done deal...I stated cleaning the house...and thinking...Surely it couldn't hurt to just go look? I talked to Mark, we called the guy, and within a few hours we were taking the picture above.

Cutie, huh? We agreed to pick him up (or I would) on New Year's Eve. Mark and I went right to Pet Smart (cha ching, cha ching) and got mostly everything he would need. The days leading up to it I started thinking, "This'll be the last time I can ___ before the dog"...Hmmm...

 

New Year's Eve came and I started getting nervous.  December of 2004 was not a great season of time for me. In fact, all of 2003-2004 was not great. At one point, in an attempt to self-assess, I realized I had gone through what most would agree was a "major life change" each month for a solid year--we had moved, Mark had gotten a new job, Dad had been diagnosed with cancer, my grandfather had died, my sister-in-law had died, I had changed job roles twice, etc. It was everything I could do to try to maintain control of a regular day. Throw a puppy in the mix, as we did with Marni, and I was not a happy camper.

 

But here I was 10 years later...10 years wiser...I knew what to expect...right? Morning routine=out the window for a while...Going to bed between 6-8pm and sleeping through the night? Ain't happening...Nice, clean home? Eh...welcome back dog hair and several containers of Febreeze.

 

On the way down to get her I prayed...I prayed a lot. I cried for Marni and admitted to the Lord that I still missed her so much, SO much. I did not want to constantly compare this dog to her (which helped that we were getting a male) but welcome the opportunity to love and mold someone new.  Praying helped...but I still got nervous stomach and had to stop at Wawa. Goodness.

 

You see, add to this mix that Mark recently changed jobs...still working at Borgata but in a new restaurant...as of December 22nd...Major change. Schedules are all out of whack already for both of us (I'm on vacation) and days off for him have been inconsistent with the holidays. So let's add a puppy into the mix!?  Were we doing this too fast???

 

I picked him up...he howled a bit on the way home...He learned his "eliminate" spots pretty quickly.

And then he just kinda did this for a while...play and flop. We went to bed and he howled a bit again. Yup--expected that. But then he went to sleep. Got up, adjusted my routine (granted, it was a non-work day=easier), greeted a parade of people all day...

It took him a day to learn the stairs...inside and out...

We bought a big yellow lab for him to play with...he learned to chew and, (ahem), hump her pretty quickly (we named her Marni)

Rose isn't too thrilled but it could be worse.

He's a real cuddlebug...

In our "new parent-ness", Mark and I are already amazed at the milestones reached in 48 hours...only 1 small accident, he's responded to "sit","come", "no", and a host of other things. I gave him a bath and he did pretty well. I clipped his nails while he slept=victory. We tested the vacuum last night and he didn't go crazy (Saturday, after all, is cleaning day so I wanted him ready).

 

A new chapter...I'm sitting here realizing it is 6am...I've been up since 4am and even though it is Saturday and I don't have to work, at this point on a workday if I'm not having to travel, I should be in the middle of a work out. But I took him out 3 xs, played, fed him, cuddled, etc. I'll get there...We'll get there. 

 

10 years later I've learned a few things (I should hope so!) Not to sweat the small stuff so much...That as much as I don't like change and it can be scary, elected change is often good for me--forcing myself to get out of the boat and do something different, challenging my creaturely habits, rolling with the flow. I also know that God doesn't want me to be a nutcase--such a slave to routine and habits and what I'm used to or think I need to have that I steal from myself the joys and abundances of life that He longs for me to have (did I just write that!?) Granted, it is still a process for me...but a new puppy? A new soul to love? A new addition to train and mold and (hopefully) bring us joy? Yup...I can do that.