Days 18 & 19 - Double Your Money

2 posts for the price of one.  Doesn't get better than that?  Reason being - not much exciting to report.  After a day where I was too sick to get out of bed I did manage to bring myself to the mat for Yin Yoga yesterday.  It was just what the Dr. ordered and I honestly started feeling better afterwards.  But just being able to walk around again and get out of bed seemed like a miracle.  Also the mystery neck crook had returned and didn't seem to want to go away anytime soon.

Well the decision point came - do we give up our beloved dog of 4 years or do we try somehow to keep her despite our overly hectic schedules? Our mother-in-law had been taking care of her for the few months leading up to this, but suffered a broken elbow after slipping on the ice when our dog tugged on her.  The irony is I had just been saying to my mother-in-law the day before that we should consider finding the dog another home because it would be a better life for the dog.  Better than receiving two short walks each day and being left alone all day.  Better than being seen as a burden and a chore.  She should be somewhere she can run off lead and be with a family that loves her.  That is in the dog's best interest.  It is also in our best interest because we can relieve ourselves of the commitment.

But after spending a weekend with her a few things happened:

• I saw how loving an animal she is.  She came to curl up with me just like old times, keeping me warm when I was shivering from my illness, laying down outside of my son's room while he slept, and otherwise just being by our side.
• I realized how much my son loves her already.  He chases her around saying "Goo Gir" (good girl) and patting her.  He would feed her kibble by kibble.  The smile on his face is just priceless. What an amazing opportunity it is for him to grow up with the love of animals - something my parents never gave to me or my siblings and something we had to develop (and only some of us did).
• I came to understand that all her "bad behaviors" were really not hers at all, but rather the byproduct of bad ownership on our part.  I was saddened to see everyone else willing to discard her just because she was inconvenient, but all the memories of all the times she had been there for us in the last four years came flooding to me.  

So I decided I could not give up on her.  If she truly was a member of the family, something I always maintained, then I needed to fight for her like I would every other member of this ragtag group I call a family.  The dog stays.

As I wrote this she came into the living room and just jumped into my lap and laid down.  She's a great dog and indeed a "Goo Gir".

So with a clear conscience I awoke this morning and commenced the detox workout.  Partially due to the illness, this was easily the hardest workout I've faced yet and I was sweating buckets, but I made it through and at the time of writing this, I realize I haven't had medicine in nearly 8 hours and I feel great - except for that neck crank.