Where Are You Puppy?!

So, here we are. May 25th. Exactly one month away from that magic date when we can get a puppy. It'll be one week and one day after school ends, and the day after Paul arrives home from his favorite week of the year at a local boys' camp. One more month. Now where's that puppy?!

We've been checking the local shelter but we haven't seen one available for adoption yet. I would be more than tempted to get an older dog but the kids have never had a puppy (unless you count Sydney who was two years old when we got Charlie, but she doesn't really remember her puppyhood). So knowing this will probably be the last time a puppy comes into our family, a puppy is what we're looking for!

"What kind? Any special breed?" Everyone asks. We're not picky really, although we do not want the pup to look like Charlie if it can be avoided. Different coloring or a different mix of breeds would be better for us all for there will only be ONE Charlie after all. I have always loved big dogs but the medium sized ones are nice too. Charlie ended up being much smaller than we had anticipated when we got her. I love little dogs too but I almost think I'd still be looking for a bigger dog if I were to get a tiny one. Wow. Two dogs?! Yeah, I might just be okay with that too at this point!

I went outside today on this sunny afternoon. I sat on the deck and I immediately thought of all the time I spent with Charlie: as a pup when she led two-year old Sydney into the woods out back, causing the local emergency crew to come search for her; as a young dog who, when retrieving her beloved football, would suddenly take off and run away, chasing something, following her impulse to run; as an aging dog wanting to spend time with me on the warm deck, putting her nose through the deck railing to sniff the summer air; as an elderly dog doing her best to tromp through the snow for one last snowshoe trek.

We are all SO ready for a puppy. I know that some people are fearful or simply not ready to allow a new dog into their lives after the death of their beloved best friend, and I understand that, but there is something within me that works differently. I think of how my son Paul was conceived just four months after my miscarriage in the fall of 1998. People back then were a bit surprised by that turn of events. There's something within me that hollers out, "LIFE IS GOOD. TIME IS PRECIOUS. DON'T WASTE TIME. KEEP LIVING. BE HAPPY!". I'm so ready to hear us all giggling again at the antics of a young pup. I am so anxious to feel my heart melt at the little face as it sleeps. I am even ready for all the difficulties and expenses of owning a dog. It's been nearly four months since we lost Charlie. That's long enough for this house to go without a dog. We're ready.

So...where's that puppy?!