Sunday, July 14, 2013

Firsts



Our trip has certainly been filled with firsts. Many were expected such as our first three week road trip, our first time on the Pacific Ocean beach, our first time driving through four states in one day and our first time tidepooling. Other firsts, however, cannot be anticipated. One, in particular, was and could NEVER have been expected.

My husband and I were put in charge of our daughter's new home on their wedding night. There were still a few houseguests lingering around and doors needed to be unlocked and locked for the evening. One duty, however, put me on a new learning curve trajectory. My daughter and her husband just adopted a new  golden retriever puppy. Along with the duties of the house came the duties of the dog for the night and next morning before our departure. The groom gave me last minute instructions after the wedding, concluding with, "and he will wake you in the morning when he has to go to the bathroom, usually around 6:00." Alarms went off in my head at that moment. My husband is not a morning person and so it was inevitable that I would be in charge of the doggie do-do business. According to the groom it would go like this. Dog wakes you up. Dog goes outside and does the tinkle thing. Dog comes in. Dog eats a scoop of puppy chow. Dog goes back out and does poo-poo. Simple enough.

As with all instructions, steps are missed. I sailed through the first three steps thinking that I'm quite the dog charmer. And then the chain of events started to unravel. Apparently, Charlie needs to play before he can do the poo-poo thing. I do not play with dogs. I don't understand the nipping, the head shaking with toys, the tail waving in the face, the plaintive eyes begging for attention. Simply stated, I just don't know how to read dog signals.

After the tenth trip to the lawn, hoping for some action, I finally had to let him loose on my sleeping husband. Fortunately, he loves dogs and was kind enough to give him a little doggie love. Back to the lawn we went and voila, a prize was rendered. Holding my breath and thinking happy thoughts, I picked up the the treasure with a plastic bag wrapped tightly around my hand and gave Charlie a little high paw. A first, indeed.

Oh, and we also had our first wedding in a barn on a gorgeous Oregon evening with a beautiful bride and beaming groom. We sat on hay bales for the ceremony and played "You Are My Sunshine" on our kazoos for the processional, accompanied by the local Hoe Down Band. The evening was extraordinary and it will be a first that will always be a divine memory.


Kissing booth in the barn



2 comments:

  1. Oh my that is an adorable puppy! I forced myself to not read ahead because I was convinced that your first in this case was you were coming home with a puppy, which was exciting and frightening at the same time, knowing your love of dogs runs as deep as our kids' love of STEP tests. Glad to know the wedding went well and that you're already a grandma! ;o) The kazoo thing kills me! Love it!

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    1. Yikes, no puppies being adopted by me! I will love little Charlie from afar :-)

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