Welcome home, buddy

With everything happening lately, semi-good days are far and few between. Most days are filled with much stress and anxiety, so when a really good day happens, I eat it up. I want to stop time and melt into the day. When the worst part of my day is the fact that Big Brother started 90 minutes late, that’s not just a really good day, it’s an amazing day.

This week has been…long. Just plain long. I was eagerly awaiting the weekend just so Chris would be home. If you didn’t notice? Friday completely sucked. So much just went…crazy…and bad. Saturday wasn’t terrible, but not wonderful. Sunday however?

How amazing was Sunday? Well, for starters, Chris woke up with Caitlin and let me sleep in until 1130. Best part was, I didn’t even ask him. I asked him to get her milk and set her up in her swing so I could get another hour when she first woke up. An hour later when she started to cry, he got up and tended to her, without complaints. Without me having to ask or beg. Ah-mazing. As a “thank you”, I suggested he go take a nap while I took care of her. But, wait! I didn’t wake up until 1130 and Caitlin naps at 12, so that meant I was up with her for an hour (I extended nap time so I could spend some time with her) before she went down for an hour. And during that time? The most amazing rainstorm. It was silent, beautiful and calming. Just me, my baby boy and Roxy.

I’ll skip the next few hours because nothing of true excitement happened. I ate a rather large bag of M&M’s, Caitlin woke up, I woke Chris up and we went for a drive and to get lunch. When we got home, we decided it was time to bring Linux over, until we rehomed him.

I’ve been dreading this for multiple reasons. Mostly for the fact that I was unsure of how Roxy and Linux would get along, and if it was badly, it could be a very bad thing. The other was the fact that I’m not ready to give him away and Chris and Caitlin definitely are not either. Linux is Chris’ buddy and Caitlin adores him. I hate having to be the bad guy and say “this is what we have to do and this is why,” because it was sucking so bad. Having Roxy around made it slightly easier, I could tell, but the fact of the matter remained. Roxy is my brother’s dog, not ours. But Linux has been by himself at the old house, only getting short visits everyday, and that was killing me, so he had to come here.

Chris went to get him, bathed him and brought him back. I nervously sat, wondering how they would get along, worrying that if something went wrong, that Caitlin would be caught in the middle. They are both amazing dogs and are wonderful family dogs. They don’t bark, they don’t bite, they are loving and sweet and funny (notice I didn’t say smart? Because smart, they are not), so getting rid of Linux is something that would not come easy. I realize that finding another dog like him is a rare and special treat.

We put up the gate so they couldn’t get into the main living room, I had both the babies in there with me, along with my mom, and Chris monitored the meeting. Honestly, it couldn’t have gone much better. Roxy was scared, but only because Linux is a rather large dog, but they played and sniffed and got to know each other. We sent them outside to chase and play and get to know each other better, while the three of us discussed the possibilities of keeping him.

Patrick had already informed us, when we told him we were getting rid of him, that we could keep him and it wouldn’t be much more trouble. “No,” we insisted, “this is for the best.” But truly? Our hearts didn’t mean it. So I talked to my mom about the possibility of keeping him and discussed how much more difficult it could potentially be. They are both wonderful and gentle, so I knew they wouldn’t harm the babies. They are also both high-energy (both part lab; Linux black, Roxy chocolate) and would wear each other down significantly. They are also both young enough to train properly, Linux will be two this coming November (we guessed, we got him at roughly 16 weeks in January) and Roxy isn’t one yet. I asked Chris, how much do you want to keep him, knowing the answer was “a lot.” So I sent the text to Pat, can we bring Linux along with us, to stay? “Of course.”

Getting rid of him was the worst part of this move. Having to say good-bye to our buddy, the one who brought me out of a lot of sadness in the coming weeks after losing Kitty-Kitty. He’s our buddy. More than a dog, our buddy. Chris’ buddy. Caitlin’s buddy. I didn’t want to separate him from us, to cut that part of our heart out. But now? I don’t have to. Instead of being lost from us, he remains our buddy.