And now here's the rest of the story...

WARNING: I guess I'm not a very concise storyteller because this is a long post. Read at your own risk....


So I thought I would tell the whole story of how our family got the point where we are getting a dog, mostly because I feel like a mother who has been manipulated by her ten-year-old son into having all sorts of creatures roam the house (Reed did that to his Mom a number of times growing up. He even convinced her to let him have a pet rat).

Sometime around Reed's last year of law school he started hounding me about getting a dog. I don't think he really wanted a dog then (our life was totally crazy, two newborns and both of us somehow trying to finish grad school) , but I think he knew if he started asking early I would eventually wear down and say yes. And he was right. I said something very stupid then thinking I was putting an end to the discussion, "We can't get a dog, you don't have a real job and we are going to be moving in a few months." However, what Reed heard me say was, "As soon as you are done with school and get a job then we can get a dog." Well, a year ago Reed was finished with school and got himself a job (hooray!). The topic came up again and this time I had a easy out, "Our landlord won’t allow it." And what did Reed hear, "as soon as we don't have a landlord, then we can get a dog."

Well, this summer when we bought our house the topic appeared once again. Reed was talking seriously about getting a german sheppard, until at some point I said, "I just don't think I can take care of an animal child this fall.”

That was about a month ago and somehow we now have a dog being shipped to us from Virginia tomorrow. So how did this happen? Reed gave up on a logical approach to convincing me to get a dog and started appealing to my emotions (oh yaah, he’s smart). We've had a dog before named Cyrus who Reed knew I really loved. One day he just started talking a lot about Cyrus. He may have even broke down and used the word cute in describing him.

Somewhere in there I saw this old picture of Cyrus as a puppy,



and that was the end of me. When Reed threw it out there that just maybe we could get another red bone coon hound (if I really, really wanted it) my melting heart just couldn't say no. At that point he immediate told Luke and Lilly that we were getting the dog, so there was no way I could go back on my word. Those two are SOOOO excited to have a dog (they have talked about it non-stop ever since), I just can't say no.

So tomorrow the fun begins.

And if Luke and Lilly ever read this post when they are older... No, you cannot have a pet rat.