The story is Jay and I witnessed an awful hit and run with a dog on I-75. After seeing that awful accident we decided that we were going to adopt a dog and not buy one. I had wanted a dog of my own for forever but Jay kept saying, "Wait until we have our own place. Wait until we have a fence. Wait until we are home more." Well by Labor Day 2007 we had a home, a fenced in yard, and Jay worked from home. Check, check, and check. I did some research and found a few dogs I was interested in. Here was the link for Lady: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/9042479
The morning we went to look at Lady Jay did say, "We are going to look but we are not bringing a puppy home." I nodded but didn't seriously think he could look at a puppy and not bring it home. Apparently he can. We did go look at Lady. She was scared to death and spent our entire visit shaking like a leaf in my lap. It broke my heart and I was ready to take her home until Jay firmly reminded me that we were not coming home with a puppy. I was upset. Actually, the better word may be livid. A quiet livid but livid none the less. I had to hand Lady back to the rescue group and get in the car. For the rest of the day I made my feelings known. Later that day Jay left to watch college football with his buddies. It was opening weekend and both or our teams were playing. As Jay was leaving he told me that if I really wanted Lady I could go back and get her. He didn't think I would do it. Apparently he was wrong! About five minutes after he left I rushed back to the rescue group, scooped up Lady and we were back home within the hour. I did wait a couple hours to call Jay to let him know that there was a small puppy sleeping at my feet.
Needless to say, adopting Lady taught us something about each other. Jay really will go visit a puppy and not cave in and bring it home. I really will do something if you say I can. It was a lesson we still remember today. The bigger lesson we've learned over the past five years is that Lady is the best dog for our family. We love her unconditionally and she is truly a family member. Everyone said that our feelings and time for Lady would change once John Henry was born. Yeah, not so much. We love Lady just as much, make sure she gets her own time with us, and worry about her as much as we did before. Lady will always have a special place in our hearts and here are some pictures of our first few weeks with her from 2007.
Our itty bitty puppy. They said she'd be about 40 pounds full grown. She's now 75. Apparently it wasn't an estimated guess...
You would think Jay may have loved Lady slightly less since he wasn't completely ready to bring her home. You would be wrong. Within 24 hours of her being in our home it was clear that he was totally in love with her.
My sweet pumpkin. Oh the days when I could pick her up!
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