Welcome to the family, Mr. Mike

So we just found out that my brother Greg, his wife Debbie, and my mom are coming to visit for a few days. Greg called to give me the news and at the same time said, “Hey… don’t suppose you’d be interested in getting a dog, would you?”

“NO,” was my immediate reply. It’s only been a few months since we decided to “adopt” Sugar, our Westie, to a friend in Ohio. She just wasn’t a good fit for us, and we thought she might be better matched with another family. (She evidently is, so that’s good news.)

Needless to say, Gavin and Isaac weren’t thrilled with our decision, Isaac in particular. I can remember his silent tears when, while out errand-running, I broke the news to him. And although he’s soldiered along bravely since, Isaac often wistfully recollects how he misses Sugar. On our visits to Missouri since then, both he and Gavin have had a great time playing with “Mr. Mike,” Greg and Debbie’s miniature schnauzer. Truth be told, Mr. Mike IS just about the best dog in the world: playful and friendly, great with kids, and well-behaved. We’ve told Greg and Debbie many times that if they ever needed to find him another family, we wanted to be first on the list.

The sad thing is that Mike has recently developed a seizure disorder. There for a while he was very, very sick. Although we didn’t witness any of his difficulties firsthand, his seizures were evidently so severe that they actually changed the way he behaved… at least for several days. We all wondered if he was going to make it. The good news is that the veterinarian seems to have found the correct medication and dosage, and Mr. Mike is back to his good old self these days. We’re all happy about that, of course.

But Greg and Debbie are enjoying their retirement and have begun to travel quite a bit. They haven’t felt as though Mike is getting the attention he needs, and there’s no small amount of expense involved with boarding a family pet when you’re away from home. And since their next planned trip is bringing them to our house, this was a good time for them to ask us whether we’d like to adopt Mr. Mike.

The decision wasn’t an easy one for us. We’ve gotten comfortable in our new, uptight, “always white-glove condition” house. (Not having a dog around makes things a LOT easier to keep clean!). I’ve been enjoying the absence of “presents” in my lawn. Our evenings have been a lot more tranquil not having to answer to a yappy, demanding dog. It’s nice to be able to carry the groceries in from the car and not bother with shutting the door to keep a critter inside. So with these thoughts and others tossing around in our heads we proceeded to go over the litany of reasons why we should or should not have Mike come (“he’ll be such a great companion to the boys,” “where are we going to keep his food bowls in our new kitchen?” “he’s got such a fantastic temperament,” “what if we all get really attached to him, he has another awful seizure, and DIES?”). One of the more guilt-ridden discussions was the one involving how we were about to consign our firstborn to be the kid at school who ruefully reports, “We used to have a pet until my parents gave it away.”

As we attempted to mentally tally all of the plusses and minuses, Camille was the first to say that she was ready to add Mike to the family. She beat me to the punch by a long shot, and I confess that I was the holdout. But we were pressed to make a decision: my brother’s trip starts early tomorrow morning, and if he’s going to board the dog, he needs time to make arrangements. Camille and I decided we’d do our best to make a decision during the dinner hour. So we sat down, food on the table, prepared to make a rational, well-thought-out decision.

And that’s when the fates began to conspire against me.

When we announced that Uncle Greg, Aunt Debbie, and Gramma Lewis were coming to visit, Isaac immediately said, “I hope they’re bringing Mr. Mike. Because he’s my bestest doggie friend.”

Now, you need to understand that Greg and Debbie have not visited us once here in SC since Isaac’s been born. Mike has never visited us… nor has any other dog, for that matter. Isaac’s comment was a bolt out of the blue.

Gavin chimed in, “We don’t have a dog.”

Isaac rejoined: “We used to have a dog. We had to give Sugar away.” (Aha! The classic “maladjusted-kid-at-school” block!)

Gavin: “Sugar wasn’t being nice.”

Isaac, “No, Sugar just kept on barking for food and mommy more wanted to take care of us, so we had to get rid of Sugar. We had to give her away.”

And then — “DING!” My email notifier went off. What should I find waiting for me but pictures of Mr. Mike from Greg with the subject heading, “Awwwwww.”

Welcome to the family, Mr. Mike.

Aug 12, 2009

• Posted by Grant
• 3 comments
• Fun

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