This dog:
It all started early Saturday morning. I woke up to warm, sunny skis. A Colbie Caillat song was playing on my radio. I sat in bed for a few minutes reveling in my Saturday morning. I had a long to-do list but I also had all day to complete that to-do list. Mind you, I had every intention of striking many check marks on that to-do list. The whole first hour I was up I was working away. (Minus the couple minutes I reveled in Saturday morning...as mentioned above...).
And then Squishy called. I can't ignore it when Squishy calls.
Squishy: "I'm taking my nieces to IHOP, you should meet us there."
Kyooyoo: (in a very "are you serious, you're really disrupting my productive Saturday with this?" tone of voice) "IHOP. As in the IHOP clear across town in the Forum IHOP?"
Squishy: "Yes..."
Kyooyoo: (weak laugh) "Heh, maybe another time...I need to get some things done."
(PS this IHOP is a good 25-minutes from my house...and I'm trying to conserve on gas...and I was still wearing my pajamas)
Squishy: "Ok, well, if you change your mind that's where we'll be. Love you!"
Kyooyoo: "Love you too..."
That's exactly how that went. And I hung up the phone with full intention of getting back to my to-do list.
And that's when it hit.
Am I being selfish? He drives across town all the time to see me. His nieces are in town for the weekend from Houston. I'd probably be kind of bitter if he put me off like that. I think I'm being selfish...am I being selfish? I might be being selfish...
This thought process continued for about 5 minutes. Then I called for reinforcement. Alisha? Yes, you're being selfish. Mom? Yes, you're being selfish.
Ok. I was being selfish.
So, long story short, despite the fact that I was going to be super productive and get things done, I drove across town to spend the morning with him and his nieces. Now, it was really fun. We did the whole IHOP thing and then played at Toy-R-Us and Petsmart and skipped everywhere like little kids (cause we were with 2 little kids...). But it was not on the to-do list.
Afternoon rolls around and I say my goodbyes and head back home to work on that pesky to-do list.
This is about the time I call Alisha to tell her how not-selfish I was. "Yada, yada, yada...you have a stray dog in your backyard? Is it cute? It's been there how long? You've called the pound?? I'm coming over."
It was cute and it had been there for 3 days! And she'd called the pound! I had to rescue it before the pound got there!
To-do list on hold again.
After a quick stop at Walmart (and lets be honest, that's never quick...not only do they never have enough check stands open but someone stole my shopping cart after I'd already loaded it with several items so I had to start all over again...cart-less). (that and they had to price check my tampons...not that that's embarrassing or anything).
So, after a not-so-quick stop at Walmart (and a long wait in the mess of construction that is Babcock street right now...), I was at Alisha's.
And the dog was cute. And well-behaved. And a girl. And she'd had her rabies shot. And she liked me!
(pretend it doesn't look like she's biting my hand off in this picture...)
She did have a blue tongue though. Kind of sketchy but I was willing to overlook that. You can kind of see it in this picture:
But I couldn't "adopt it" until I was sure it didn't have an owner. And the fact that it was wearing a collar with a rabies tag was a good indication that it had an owner, negligence aside.
So we set out on an adventure to find a vet to scan the dog for a chip. Luigi (temporary name for the dog...even though it was a girl) jumped right into the back seat of my car and sat there like a champ ready for the ride.
First vet's office? Closed.
Second vet's office? Closing. But they agreed to scan her real quick. And it was real quick because the number they gave us didn't exist in the phone database they had us call.
Foiled.
Lacking any other options, and realizing that the Humane Society was just a few miles away, we went straight there.
The Humane Society is not a good place for me. The dogs were adorable and they were all looking at me with this "adopt me!" face. And that is a really hard face to ignore.!
But I was there for Luigi. And as I stood waiting in line trying to get Luigi to sit and hoping she wouldn't break the 1/4" thick leash restraining her from greeting all the other dogs (it's all Alisha had...), everyone was complimenting me on how cute "my" dog was.
Do you know how cool that was? I was the person with the cute dog!
And that's when I got attached to Luigi.
And that's also when they announced that they had found her owner.
Heartbreak.
A few phone calls later and we were back at Alisha's waiting for the negligent dog-sitter to pick up Luigi. Stupid dog-sitter.
By the time I got home later that afternoon, my to-do list was just laughing at me. I was beaten and tired and not at all motivated to do anything on that list. But it's the memories and relationships that matter most in life, right? Not how clean your house is? Or how much food you have in your pantry? Or how long it's been since your last haircut?
...right?
(another picture of Luigi)
Maybe I'll get to that to-do list next Saturday...
Have a great day :)
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