Middle son and Sparky
This was written April 2005. It's a great story so I thought I'd share it with you guys……
You
must have at least a small sense of humor when raising children
otherwise you'll go nuts. Between the constant questions,
repeated answers and “why moms” there are days I wonder how mothers who
have gone before me look in the least bit sane. I find I also
gain a greater appreciation for my mother with each passing day.
This
is the week I decided to go and visit a friend who lives about 6 hours
away at the beach. I had originally planned to go by myself with
our four children but my husband decided to come along at the last
minute. How I thought I’d make the trip by myself is beyond me
but I guess if you’re going to dream it’s important to dream
big!!
What prompted me to write today was an incident that happened even
before we left the house this morning. I still chuckle thinking
about it. But let me start at the beginning…
About 3 months ago when I realized my husband and I were probably
finished having children I decided I needed some other kind of baby so
I began looking at puppies. We have three boys ages 6,5,3 and a
daughter who just turned 10 months old, 2 cats, and 1 fish. We’ve
had as many as 10 fish but for some reason I kill all but one.
God must know too much even when I don’t.
I remember
thinking that certainly a cute little puppy would fill that baby void I
was already beginning to feel. Our daughter was already beginning
to crawl, cruise and utter words like, “Dada, Ma-Ma, Dis and
bye-bye”. By the beginning of February when she had turned 8
months I was just searching for an excuse to buy a puppy. I
stopped by our local pet store several times, talked myself out of a
dog and then left only to return again a few days later to see what
else had arrived.
One evening as my husband left for a business trip I gathered the kids
in the car to “just go look” at the puppies at the pet store.
Seriously!! No more than an hour later we were the proud owners
of a Feist/long hair Chihuahua mix my 5 year old promptly named
Sparky. My excuse – his birthday was only a few weeks away.
Sparky has turned out to be a delightful little dog but I’m quickly
learning the disadvantages as well as the advantages of having a small
dog.
This morning after packing for 4 children and myself I help my husband
load the car then get all four kids into their car seats. (No small
feat!) I then turn to look for Sparky. She usually comes when I
call her although she isn't alway in a mood to cooperate and be
persuaded into the car or the house when she’d rather be outside.
So this morning she was in one of her favorite places enjoying the
spring day underneath our gazebo. It’s a great cool, dark place
that our cat used to inhabit before a little black and white 7-pound
dog took over his world. I called for her several times and she
would peep her head out from underneath the gazebo totally content with
being in a spot where she thought herself completely
unobtainable. So I grab the broom and whisk it around underneath
trying to convince her that coming out really was a good idea.
Now my husband and four children are sitting in our van watching me and
I could only imagine what my husband was thinking….“ And she had to
have a dog!!” or “I wonder what dog tastes like on the
BBQ?” After a few minutes of watching my antics with Sparky
my husband hops out of the car and marches inside the house. I
was only half paying attention to him until I saw him walking across
the lawn towards me with a bottle rocket and a lighter in hand.
Normally my husband’s barbarian ways only cause me to shake my head in
bewilderment but this particular morning he was more like my
savior. Laughing at the mental picture that was forming in my
head I smiled and graciously stepped aside.
After securing the bottle rocket into the ground so it wouldn’t
actually go under the gazebo, just blast off while staying in the
ground beside it, my husband stoops to light the thing. By this
point most of our family is out of the van or watching from the car
window. As we stand with fingers stuck in our ears the
unexpecting Sparky hears “BBLLAAMM” as sparks fly in random fashion
into the air and fall upon the ground. She shot out from
underneath the gazebo like a greased watermelon in a pool on the 4th
of July. Scared but perfectly okay she sits in the backseat as we
pull out of the driveway. And I chuckle as I think this time we
can certainly “Chalk one up for dad!!!!”
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