Day 13 part 2

Hi,

I cannot tell you what this day has been to me! My daughter is now getting ready to come home from work in NC, sleep in her own bed and have her own dog there waiting to greet her. My middle son is laying in bed right now in Camp Lejeune, dreaming of his fiancee who he just got an apartment with in PA. My oldest son is sitting on the couch, staring at the tv in that way that only a parent who has a newly crawling baby can, and while trying to be affectionate with his wife, but, quite frankly right now, both being so fried from chasing my grand daughter all day that neither of them have the energy to do anything but the 5000 mile glare into the tv set...and he thought an Iraq tour was hard... My husband is carelessly tossing the ball for Willie off the couch while Bear... okay, I can't help it, I look at this dog and all I can think is "He's such a bear!" is laying by my feet while I write...and house breaking with this one is gonna be nothing!

I've been waiting for seven years for this day to happen in our life and ... finally, it's here. Everyone is in their place and moving forward and, quite frankly, I am exhausted!

Bear is wonderful! Everything I wanted in a dog and more!!! I can't say enough about checking with your local pound and will be writing an article for the local paper on this one. He really is a gift, is socializing well with Willie and...AND loves to watch my goldfish by the way...and natural chunky peanut butter with rasberry jelly sandwiches on oatmeal bread...and the pears from my pear tree...and the apples from my apple tree...and has frizzy curly hair when it rains, just like me...and has a "noisy nose" when he sleeps...and seems to want to do anything I want to do whenever I want to do it...and...and...thinks that having a home is about the most wonderful thing in the world...even if that home has a "Willie-whose-nose-is-very-out-of-joint" in it.

Even "The William" has his weaknesses and Bear is finding them!

I'll post about the trip tomorrow because I am still braindead from the driving, but I wanted to let you know about the name thing... My spouse and I had decided, on the way down to NC, that "Ernie" was the perfect name, so most of the way down and all of the way back, that is how we thought of him.

It's not his name, though.

First time I saw this guy, first thought I had was "Oh my God, this dog is a bear!"

Every time after that, when I saw this dog, upon greeting and leaving him, that is what I thought. Today when I went to get him, this is what came right into my head when he was sitting in the pen waiting for me to go take him for a walk again.

Somebody was talking, I just wasn't listening.

Okay, "Bear" is not the name I would have chosen, but it is the name he responds to and it is what he "is"...even though he is a dog...which is technically a canine...which is not a bear but we aren't even going to go there. "Bear" is his name because ... this guy looks just like a baby bear and the teddy bear I had as an infant.

I'm sure there is something very Freudian in all of this, but ya know what? He's happy with the name. I'm happy with the name and if I want to call my dog Bear, who, on the face of the planet, is really going to care?

His name is "Bear."

Tomorrow, pictures and the "Tale of the tails," I promise! Tonight I am going on about 10 hours of sleep in the past 72 so I'm heading to the bed...if Bear lets me because, not for nothing but, he snores louder than "the Vet" after Iraq when he's not trying to climb into bed with me...

Did I mention this dog is at 68 pounds right now and is maybe six months old but possibly younger?

Yeah....

He's a love though!

Happy wanderings!

The Writer ... and her dog, Bear!