Win Some

Elaine and I learned something this week that surprised me more than it did Elaine. Truthfully, Elaine has known it for a while. It took me a while longer.

We learned we are not very good at being empty-nesters. When our dog, Lizzie, passed away, Elaine started going into a funk. I tried to look at it for the first time in over thirty years of not having a dog was just a new chapter in our crazy lives.

I saw a gain in our finances. No more vet bills, no more dog food. About a week before Lizzie's passing, I bought a fifty-pound bag of dog food at the local membership store. I returned it to the store when Lizzie passed. The store returned over forty bucks to my debit card. You know I liked that. What I didn't know was how much I was going to miss Lizzie.

I seemed weird that Lizzie was not there when I would arrive home from a hard day of buying groceries, going to breakfast with a friend, and stopping at the feed store and the Orange Depot. What I didn't see was how much Elaine missed Lizzie working at home without Lizzie in the room with her.

Unbeknownst to me, Elaine was checking the internet looking for dogs. She would show me photos of dogs she thought were cute. She started talking about how she was missing Lizzie. We talked about how someday we should get another dog. We spoke of the kind of dog we should get SOMEDAY.

As luck would have it, I ended up spending time in the hospital which forced Elaine to be alone in the house. I realized if we were ever needing a dog it was now. I suggested Elaine should find a dog, thinking it would take a month or so for her to find the perfect dog. Oh, no. That was not the case. I no more than got the suggestion out of my mouth and Elaine was showing me a litter of "perfect" puppies. She had eight dogs to choose from.

I'm still wondering how it happened and how I arrived at my part of the decision. I suggested, "If you like that litter of puppies, you might want to get two puppies, Maybe they will entertain each other."

Elaine bought two puppies. As I type they are asleep under my chair. Elaine is happy. I like it when Elaine is happy and when the puppies are asleep.

Goose