Skip to main content

National Dutch Day


       I was completely sold on the idea to get a dog. I wanted one, and I was just extremely excited to get a miniature Schnauzer. There were two left...the little guy and his bigger brother. I got first choice. Meet Dutch. The love of my life. I didn't realize, as do most people, how much this little creature would greatly impact my life. I know that everyone says they have the best dog, and if their dog means as much to them as Dutch does to me...then they can't be lying.
       I used to have this bear. It was about 3 feet tall, white at one point, and slept with me every night for 23 years. I gave the bear up for this little guy, and he has since become my comfort. When Andrew passed, I was a complete mess. I wept and cursed and acted confused, but not once did this guy leave my side (well...he did piss on my friend Michael 3 times in that one day) but other than that Dutch had to have one paw touching me at all times. 
        This dog has been a physical saving grace. I don't mean to single him out apart from my parents dog, Baron, who has also been a fantastic part of my family, but Dutch is the one who I look at and my heart lurches. Yes, I am probably that creepy person who thinks their pets are their kids. I don't have kids...I have this little guy. And there are not moments when I think I wouldn't do anything for him. He has claimed me as his own (literally) and I him...although I didn't pee on him.
         To the next man who comes in my life: you will be sharing me with this one. We are a packaged deal, and not that I believe dogs come before humans, Dutch was here first. ;-) Boy, with that kind of attitude I will never find a man! 
         Happy National Dutch (I mean Dog) Day!!! 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tiger must stay in your backpack...

   I'm not that parent. The one who gloats too much, and shows off all the pictures. The parent who relays every detail of their kid to let others know how incredible I think they are. Perhaps it is a flaw. Who knows. And I also pride myself in not being a helicopter parent. I teach and let go. I discipline and let go.    And I thought I would be ready for this: first day of Pre-K. I have been very positive and uplifting and have wanted my son to be extra ready to go to school. We have talked about it for months! I am ready... Or so I thought.  This morning, as white boy was leaving to take them to daycare, he said to Owen, "You can't take Tiger to school tomorrow or he will have to stay in your backpack, so do you want to take him to daycare today?" I thought little of it, but as Owen threw him down on the ground and turned to head out the door, my throat hitched. "Are you sure you don't want to take him today?" He said no. It was a sense of finality.  ...

A goodbye love letter to you...

  I sat across from my dad at lunch, yesterday, and asked him, "Do you know what tomorrow is?" He said, "Yeah. 1 year." And his eyes grew damp. "I'll never forget walking into that room..." He didn't continue. I didn't ask him to. "I'll never forget the police officer banging on my door at 1130 at night..." I didn't continue. He didn't ask me to.  "This journal was given to me several years ago by my children. I know they wanted me to write down my thoughts to get through the rough times I was going through at the time. I did not start this at that time. Why am I starting it now? Well, I only thought I had been through hell back then, but now I realize I didn't have any idea what heartache was until Aug 15, 2010 -"   This is the beginning of one of my mother's journals. A journal she started a little over a month after Andy died. And she wrote it--to him.  "Dear Mother - Today is the day before Mothe...

Arithmetic of Purpose

   By nature, humans will, at one point in their life, ask the question, "For what purpose? Why am I here? What am I meant to do?" Okay, maybe they will ask themselves more than 1 question...but at least around the same theme. "Who am I, and why am I here?" It is built in our very DNA. Growing up, I didn't ask this often. I had a loving family who went with the current. Who I was and why I was here was bound up in my place in my family of 4. I was comfy. I was loved. I was secure. But alas...the question presented itself.   I first asked myself this question walking down the streets of Rome. I was alone, I was 21, and I was lost. I had just finished AmeriCorps and felt like I wanted something, but wasn't sure what that was. I had found my faith, at last, and realized that perhaps I wanted to be a bigger part of the Church collective. I felt meaning to my nothingness. I went home with direction. I graduated from college, finally, and started grad school to be...