A Preview?

Anyone who knows me well knows that I adore my dog Vivienne... She's a German shorthaired pointer that we rescued 7 years ago or so. She's stubborn and willful and she likes to eat garbage way more than she likes to eat dog food. I could list the things that drive me crazy about her for a long time: she attacks my feet when I wear house slippers, she likes to sleep smack dab in the middle of the bed and will kick me out of the way to do it, and she is sassier than a teenager. But the things about her that outweigh all of those few things I named above are these: she loves me and I love her. That's it...simple as that.

Tonight, I'm at what I hope is the tail end of a pretty bad sinus infection. Unfortunately, Vivienne is sick, too. So she's giving me a fair preview, I think, of what I can expect out of parenthood... I warn you now that the story that I could write here would not be for the weak-stomached. Let's just say that I had to clean up messes from both ends of my poor little puppy. Now she's laying sweetly on the couch and I have to wonder if she's thankful that I cleaned up for her. I have to wonder if she even understands how much I hate that, but that for her I would do it as often as necessary. But then I wonder why she should have these thought processes...after all, she knows I'm her mom and isn't that a mom's job?

I am blessed to have had a wonderful mom and grandma who both would have sacrificed anything in the world for me. I still rely on both of their love on a daily basis, as I'm so lucky that they're both still in my life. They cleaned up after me, both physically and metaphorically when things when wrong in my life... And that's the kind of mom I want to be. I want my kids to know that I will do anything in the world for them...just like Vivienne knows I'd do for her. So, thanks for the practice, Vivster! But we don't have to repeat it any time soon! ;-)

So, to get back to why this post belongs on this blog--surely you've figured it out by now. I know that I won't be a perfect mother...I know my kids won't be perfect by any means. (I hope they won't try to bite my feet if I'm wearing slippers, but you just never know. ;-)) But I will do what my mom and grandma did for me and what I do for Vivienne. I will love them anyway...