Days 77 and 78 -- Dog sitting on Thanksgiving & the day after

"Don't let what you can't do stop you from what you can do."
---John Wooden

I made an arrangement with my wonderful friend and neighbor Carol to dogsit for her for three days beginning Thanksgiving Day. The dog is an adorable lab retriever. I thought it'd be a great enhancement to our family Thanksgiving to have a beautiful, well-trained dog in our midst. And besides, I get my dog fix these days via dog-sitting.

It probably was a little too much -- I had a huge meal to prepare, we had kids in our family who were a bit scared of dogs, and it was not easy to find the time to go to the dog's house and take it for walk. And with so many relatives around, it's pretty chaotic here, though in a good way.

But I'm so happy to be doing this. From a selfish viewpoint, I love dogs and get my dog "fix" by dog-sitting since we no longer have our own dog; from the viewpoint of a mom, I love seeing the smiles that the dog puts on the children's faces; and from the viewpoint of a wife, I'm glad that the dog gave my husband and I an excuse to spend a little time together -- when the dog needed walking tonight, it was Rick who walked with me to the dog's house, took a short walk, and then walked home together. Doesn't sound like much of a date, but it's pretty much the only time we've had alone together in the past several nights -- so I'll take what I can get:-)

So overall, what I'm finding is that with the extra responsibility of a dog I'm staying up way too late and not getting to do things like frame the photos that I took a while ago. But on the other hand, we are reaping the benefits of having a super well-trained dog in our home, and it's most definitely easier to dog-sit than to dog-own. I reminded my husband of that as he shivered his way home from the chilly fall night.

I can't do everything, so I often try to focus on giving right here in my community!