www.sandraevertson.com
9 years ago
Posted by
Victoria
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It has been a very long time since I had a puppy, 15 years to be exact. Growing up we had lots of dogs but they were already grown by the time we acquired them, they stayed outside, and I was a child so other than feeding them and loving them, I had no responsibility for them. When Jason and I got married we had a miniature schnauzer that I had "rescued" from a friend of mine's neighbor. He was already a year old and was very smart He was quiet and nervous, but potty trained and neutered so we really didn't have a lot of work to do. After several months of marriage I was feeling maternal and we had not been blessed with a bun in the oven, so I began pleading my case for a puppy, not a dog, I wanted a puppy. Jason soon caved and we went to pick up my first bundle of joy, a miniature pinscher, whom we named Grace. She was six weeks old when we brought her home, she weighed only a few ounces and fit in the palm of my hand but soon we discovered that she could produce a lot of terror in that tiny body. Never having a puppy before I was completely unprepared for her shredding, peeing, pooping, eating, whining, howling, shredding, destructive, (did I mention shredding?) ways. Jason and I both worked full time. We lived in a small apartment and Grace wrecked it in just under a month. We had to rip out carpet, replace tile, fix cabinets, paint doors. We tried crate training to no avail, she would pee and poop in the crate and then wear it all day until we returned, and she didn't even care! She ate a million things she shouldn't... towels, wipes, medicine bottles, clothes, shoes. We made multiple trips to the emergency vet in those early months. Jason and I argued about getting rid of her. He thought she should go, but then she would be good for a short time and I would convince him to let her stay. I would joke that her name, Grace, was fitting since it took all the Grace I could muster not to kill her. Jazz, our sweet schnauzer would look at us like we were crazy and treated her like she had the plague. I swore that I would never, not ever, get another puppy, ever again.
15 years later and life has changed tremendously in our home. Grace, our little terror, is now a great-grandma. She can't hear, her eyesight is failing a little, she has arthritis and she spends most of her days lying in the sun spot on the carpet and cuddling in your lap under a blanket. She still has her moments of craziness, but the memory of those wild puppy days has faded.
This is where it gets bad, the faded puppy memories, because just like you forget the pain and sleepless nights of babyhood with your children and begin to long for more even after you swore at 2am that that baby was going to be an only child, you forget those wild puppy days of 15 years ago. I forgot about the constant chewing, I forgot about the howling nights, I forgot about the potty traing, and the teething, and the hyper- high energy, and when I walked up to the Walmart door and saw the sweet white puppy with the black spots and the sad eyes I forgot that promise I made all those years ago and all I saw was my little girls pleading face and all I thought about was how much I loved having a big yard dog to follow me around and grow up with me when I was a child and how my girls haven't really gotten to experience that with grumpy Grandma Grace... and I caved. I didn't cave right away, oh no, I said no and we left and came home, but then I called Jason, expecting him to be the strong one and confirm my doubts, but he didn't, he just said "well go get it if you want." That's the problem with him, he always gives in to me and it is not always good, but love is blind and off we went to get the puppy.
I now remember vividly the chaos that puppies cause, but it is too late, because he looks at us with his sweet eyes and he whines for us to come play and I remember why, through all the craziness, teething, chewing, digging, and howling, we kept Grace all those years ago. love. simple, God made little things like puppies and children so cute and innocent to show us how to love unconditionally. Just like God loves us when we create chaos in our lives, just like he loves us when we are being frustrating, hard headed and whiny. God created things around us to demonstrate what love is supposed to look like. I see it in my children, who wear me down and wear me out, but no matter how many times they cause trouble, I still love them and I see it in this new puppy, who is crazy and untrained and frustrating, but no matter what, we will love him and take care of him, because God loves me even when I act crazy! All I can hope for now is that it takes another 15 years before I forget about these crazy times because I am getting to old to handle any more puppies.
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
15 years later and life has changed tremendously in our home. Grace, our little terror, is now a great-grandma. She can't hear, her eyesight is failing a little, she has arthritis and she spends most of her days lying in the sun spot on the carpet and cuddling in your lap under a blanket. She still has her moments of craziness, but the memory of those wild puppy days has faded.
This is where it gets bad, the faded puppy memories, because just like you forget the pain and sleepless nights of babyhood with your children and begin to long for more even after you swore at 2am that that baby was going to be an only child, you forget those wild puppy days of 15 years ago. I forgot about the constant chewing, I forgot about the howling nights, I forgot about the potty traing, and the teething, and the hyper- high energy, and when I walked up to the Walmart door and saw the sweet white puppy with the black spots and the sad eyes I forgot that promise I made all those years ago and all I saw was my little girls pleading face and all I thought about was how much I loved having a big yard dog to follow me around and grow up with me when I was a child and how my girls haven't really gotten to experience that with grumpy Grandma Grace... and I caved. I didn't cave right away, oh no, I said no and we left and came home, but then I called Jason, expecting him to be the strong one and confirm my doubts, but he didn't, he just said "well go get it if you want." That's the problem with him, he always gives in to me and it is not always good, but love is blind and off we went to get the puppy.
I now remember vividly the chaos that puppies cause, but it is too late, because he looks at us with his sweet eyes and he whines for us to come play and I remember why, through all the craziness, teething, chewing, digging, and howling, we kept Grace all those years ago. love. simple, God made little things like puppies and children so cute and innocent to show us how to love unconditionally. Just like God loves us when we create chaos in our lives, just like he loves us when we are being frustrating, hard headed and whiny. God created things around us to demonstrate what love is supposed to look like. I see it in my children, who wear me down and wear me out, but no matter how many times they cause trouble, I still love them and I see it in this new puppy, who is crazy and untrained and frustrating, but no matter what, we will love him and take care of him, because God loves me even when I act crazy! All I can hope for now is that it takes another 15 years before I forget about these crazy times because I am getting to old to handle any more puppies.
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
