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A Mere Breath

Surprise! Puppy!

I had been pestering Andrew about getting a dog since we moved to Edgewater last July. I think pestering is the right word. Becca had something to do with it, suggesting ways to work my angles like, "I'll be the one to take him out up and down 3 flights of stairs, I don't mind", and "We'll meet lots more people in the neighborhood if we have a dog", and "you like dogs so much, why not get one?" The conversations trended toward me taking complete responsibility for the dog. Like kids when they tell their parents they will do everything for the dog - pretty pleeease? Off and on, I pestered through the fall, into the winter.

The holidays, when we went to visit home, provoked the conversation further. Andrew's most beloved dog, Brooklyn, lives with his parents. Brooklyn is super smart, plays fetch all day long, is sweet, and will chill out when there is nothing happening. Andrew adores Brooklyn. Adores. Venerates. Treasures. You get the idea. There is ongoing family banter about whose the dog really is now, and how he has gotten fatter and whatnot since living with the 'rents. That's almost enough material for another post. But I digress. Seeing Brooklyn and Andrew's utter affection for him prompted me to continue to prod him about getting a dog in Chicago.

Now, when these discussions took place, Andrew had numerous logical and practical arguments against getting a dog. These included:

- Living on the fourth floor in a small apartment, with no yard

- Having to be home more in order to take care of the dog

- Cost of food, vet, housing, etc.

At least these were the ones I remember the most. I had lots of "yes, but..." responses, however the logic and practicality of his side formed a solid, unassailable wall. I would come bounding up to the wall in conversation, meet with it, maybe jump up and down in front of it trying to see over it, but I knew that that wall of argumentation was not coming down from my efforts.

Then, one day, Andrew says that he has a surprise road trip planned for us. Not uncommon, so I didn't think too much of it. We were probably going to a brewery somewhere or to some concert or something like that. Sweet. So, the mystery trip arrives and we start driving out to the burbs. Past the burbs. Driving for a long while. So, I start jokingly guessing at what we are doing. I have a terrible record of ruining Andrew's surprises, so I try to guess but not really figure things out.

Me: "Are we getting a dog?"

Now, I said this in utter sarcasm, thinking that Andrew was behind that solid wall of no-dog-right-now logic. Not one ounce of me thought we were actually going to get a dog on that trip.

Andrew: "We've talked about this. Now is not a good time for a dog."

Me: "I know." And then, trying for the first time to acknowledge that I know about the wall of logic blocking this course of action, I say," I think the reasons you have for not getting a dog right now make sense. I just expected you not to do the most practical thing in this case because you like dogs so much. But it's probably best for us if we wait longer until we get a dog."

Oh, such irony.

About 15 minutes after this statement, we drive up to an unfamiliar house, with unfamiliar cars parked outside, and some trash in the yard. I'm thinking, "Do we know the person who lives here? Are we having dinner here or something? This is weird."

We get to the door, and Andrew says, "Happy Birthday!" And out runs a puppy.

Irony indeed. The man who had put up the wall of logic had now just blown it up. And that's how Knox came into our family.

The next few weeks proved that while a puppy sounds like such a sweet surprise, there are a few drawbacks.

- For me, a planner to the core, the surprise appearance of a puppy did not afford me time to read up on this creature. How much to feed him? How to stop him from peeing on the floor? How to train him? What shots does he need? I've got nothing here. I would have liked to have something to go off before he showed up. That's all.

- Also, we had nothing for him when he got home but a crate. No collar, no leash, no toys, no nothin. I imagined those families that foster kids and end up with another person in their house on fairly short notice. There is some scrambling and making do to get by. I like preparedness, and that didn't happen. Oh well. We survived.

- Having never met Knox until he was ours, I was thus unaware that I am allergic to him. My skin breaks out in hives from his dander or saliva or something. Awesome. Still love him.

- The burden I had paced on myself about Knox being "my dog" blew up fairly quickly as I work the night shift, erratically, and couldn't be the one to feed him and take him out all of the time. Andrew quickly helped me understand that Knox was our dog. Helpful.

So we have a crazy puppy, who is smart as all get out, ornery, and we haven't found the "off'" button yet. But he's so stinkin cute. See?