Kasey's Long, Strange Trip

Last weekend, my family and I drove to Maine to attend the wedding of our cousin Merril (aka my adopted sister).

We decided to take our 10 year old dog, Kasey along for the weekend rather than board her at a petsitter, where she is unceremoniously placed in a crate for the better part of her visit. Since she has never been on a car trip other than the 5 minute drive to the vet or sitter, I knew the 7 hour trip would be challenging. We made plenty of space in the back of our mini-van and stuffed her in there with the luggage. She proceeded to cry for the first two hours which I found extremely nerve-wracking, though no one else seemed to notice. Then we stopped for her to have a bathroom break and she realized the opening of the trunk was her escape hatch. When we put her back in, she decided to stand staring at the trunk hatch for the remaining 4 hours waiting for it to open signalling freedom. Once at Merril's house she was greeted at the door by her 3 dogs. Instantly surrounded, Kasey stood horrified as they began to invasively sniff her every body part. The next thing I knew, she had bolted for the open back door followed by the pack of hounds. By the time I caught up, she had run out onto their deck and in an apparent act of desperation jumped into their swimming pool. Not only had she never been on a lengthy car trip but my beloved pet had never been in water, so I was shocked to see that she could actually swim. I had always heard that canines know how to swim instinctively, but a friend of mine had tested this theory by putting his dog in a pool only to watch in horror as it sunk to the bottom and stood there like an idiot. Anyway, Mike finally fished Kasey out as the other dogs stood on the deck staring in apparent disbelief at the measures my dog had taken to get away from them. I immediately thanked God that we had not been on the top of a tall building because I was certain she would have jumped in an effort to commit suicide. Thankfully, after her apparent gang-bang and subsequent dip in the pool all the animals calmed down.

Allow me to introduce Merril's three dogs to you. They are sweet and loving, but nutty as fruitcakes. Tessa is a large mutt, with one brown eye and one blue eye, Ruby is a small mutt that takes every opportunity to escape, and Izzy is a Pug that apparently was dropped on it's head as a puppy and is supposedly retarded as a result. Anytime I tried to feed my dog, Izzy would dive head first into the bowl and gobble the food. She also spent a lot of time barking at Tessa (the big one) as if to boss her around, unaware that Tessa could swat her like a fly if she wasn't so good natured.

Needless to say, once Kasey realized that we were packing the car to return home she began howling at us and running toward the front door as if to rush us along. She actually laid down in the car ride home instead of standing and waiting for the trunk to open. Once home, she found a peaceful spot and slept for 24 hours straight.

Chasing Happiness

I consider myself painfully lucky for a number of reasons. I have a husband I have been married to for 15 years and still patently worship more now then the day I said "I do". I have twin 8 year old sons that are caring, self-appreciative, funny children that despite my parenting skills (or lack thereof) somehow seem to be on a morally sound path in life. I have two healthy parents, that I consider to be my penultimate friends and confidants. I have a dog that I define as my "first born" and love to death. I have a group of carefully chosen girlfriends who seem to like me, regardless of my lack of depth and in spite of the ridiculous things that come out of my mouth on a regular basis. For all of these things and more (including my extensive shoe and handbag collection) I acknowledge how mind-bogglingly lucky I am.

Unfortunately, luck and happiness don't always go hand and hand. I'm turning 40 in a couple of weeks. I'm not one of those people who gets upset about aging. Age is just a number and doesn't define who I am. In fact, I was relishing turning the big 4-0 because I think I will get better gifts this year. That's why I'm more than a little surprised that I 've been finding myself questioning why I have no life-skills at this juncture of my development. I'll try to clarify, although I'm uncertain as to what the hell I'm talking about. I've liked myself for a number of years and suddenly I'm wondering if that's been a wise decision. What's so great about me? My parenting skills are less than stellar, my poor husband works and I piddle away his money on shopping (I never thought I would use the word "piddle" and "shopping" in the same sentence), I earn no income of my own to piddle away, I have no talents or abilities that anyone would pay for and I have no interest in learning anything that would cause me to be employable. I can't even write a decent blog lately. Not really much to be proud of if you ask me. Meanwhile, my husband and friends are amazing parents and people. Over the last month, I'm suddenly feeling like I bring nothing to the party that is worth the time they spend with me. Mid-life crisis? PMS? Peri-menopause (being "very-peri" as I like to call it), temporary insanity? Who knows.

Anyway, I'm foolishly trying not to be overly concerned. This too shall surely pass and if it doesn't there's always medication. In the meantime, I will try to look on the brighter side of things. After all, my friends must have some reason that they're still inviting me to hang out with them. My kids and husband love me despite all of my nuttiness and lack of usefulness. Most importantly, Mike will always be 7 years older than me which makes me a spring chicken in comparison.