Unconditional Love

There are kids we bring into the world, and "kids" who just find their way into our lives. I have had both. The kids I bought into this world were born six years apart...does that tell you anything? Over the years, we'e had a dog here or there, the kind of "kid" who wasn't desired, wasn't asked into our home, but nonetheless, made their way in and straight to our hearts.

The longest running of those fur-babies was a motley little peekapoo named Coco. He was about a year old when he began breaking free from the side of a house several blocks over in our neighborhood and somehow made his way to our house. We put a sign up at the subdivision entrance, and the neighbors came and picked up the dog. Turns out the little girl in the home when to school with our son, Joe. Time after time, the mutt continued to show up at our house, and we'd load him up in the car and drive him back home.

One day he showed up, covered in mud, which he promptly shook all over my kitchen floor. After hosing him off and wrapping him in a towel, I once again drove him home, both kids in the car. The dog's owner, the lady of the house, wasn't excited to see him. Instead, she put her hands on her hips and said, "do you want to just keep that dog?" My kids squealed with delight, screaming "yes, yes, yeeessss!!!!" "Tell you what," she said, "give me fifty bucks to cover the shots he's already had and he's yours." Before I really thought it through, Coco was ours. He lived with us 15 years before going out one night, never to return. He was blind, deaf and he limped. The vet said that old dogs will go build a "nest" of sorts, covering themselves up with leaves and pine straw before curling up to die. Our hearts were broken.

Not long before Coco left us, Roxie entered our hearts.

Joe used his high school graduation money to buy her from a "friend." He said she was full-blooded boxer. The vet said otherwise, advising us she was approximately six months old, probably mixed with a pit bull, and she had mange. Much money, a destroyed couch, countless shoes, computer and phone cords later, Roxie ended up being the love of my life. She is ten years old now, but she is still full of life, probably because of our latest acquisition, Paco the Chiweenie (part chihuahua/part dauchsund).

Paco was found at the Country Cub of Jackson. Seemed he hung out there all day Memorial Day before last, and at the end of the day, no one claimed him. Larry brought him home and we made every effort to find his owners. Days and weeks went by, and it became apparent he was ours. Roxie was not very welcoming to the new pup, but she learned to love him. That's a good thing, because Paco really loves her.

Paco loves to get his vitamin D each day...until the lilies came up, he loved to lay in this pot

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So, now that my nest is empty of my children, we do coexist with two of the funniest, sweetest pups I can imagine. Their personalities are both hilarious. Roxie is neurotic about everything, barks at the UPS and FedEx guys like she'd tear them apart if she could just get past that front door, and she wants to talk more than any dog I've ever seen. She is very vocal about many things. Paco can turn from the sweetest love bug to Cujo in no time, baring and gnashing teeth, but back to his loving ways as soon as soon as I start rubbing those radar ears. They love us unconditionally, we we love them back. Our nest isn't so empty afterall...