March 21, 2011

• Pity Party!

  I have decided that it is an absolute miracle that anyone in the word actually gets married.  By that, I mean that it is a miracle that any wedding actually gets planned and completed.  Kudos to the men and women who make their livings planning weddings, and hats off to all the people who have successfully gotten married.  Between guest lists, family grumblings, flower options, shoe crises, alterations, and details details details – I don’t know how they do it!  I certainly don’t want to have to have to plan any more than this one!

  I’m just trying to remember (and remind!) that this is mine and Andrew’s wedding – no one else’s.  I don’t have to make everyone else in the world happy, although I do dread hurting anyone’s feelings.  Maybe not all of our decisions were the best ones, but they are what we want and we just have to pray that people will respect that, know that we had the very best of intentions, and simply be happy for us so that we can be happy.

  I now understand why eloping is such a popular option!  Absolutely no one gets invited, so no one feels left out because EVERYONE was left out, there are no decisions to make, flowers don’t matter, any dress and shoes will do, and it’s legal and most likely memorable.  The best of all worlds!  Unfortunately the time for eloping has passed us.

  Now, I’m just venting here.  I know that it will be a special day, and that it will be a beautiful day, and that all our family and friends love us and want us to be happy.  The thing is, it ultimately won’t matter where it was, or who was there, or what music was played or not played.  What will matter, and what is really the most important thing, will be creating a beautiful MARRIAGE that will last a lifetime.  And it WILL last a lifetime because goodness knows I’m never going through this again!

  At least I’ll have shoes to wear

  

   

  The next stage of my pity party is pain-related.  I have a kidney stone .  It happens every once in a while to me – I’ve had about 4 or 5 in the last 4 years.  It’s a vicious cycle in my life, because I get very sick if I don’t get enough calcium.  So, I intake a LOT of calcium, but that tends to create kidney stones with the chemical composition of calcium.  The pain is usually something I can handle with the help of pain meds – and it tends to come in waves, which gives me periods of rest.  Fortunately it is the weekend and I haven’t had to do much.  I’m very much hoping I can pass it before work, though, because staying in one position for too long usually gets uncomfortable quickly .  It is moving though, which is nice to know, even though it hurts.

   

  

   

  The final stage of the pity party is for Luna.  She recently backslid in some of her obedience training.  We had two incidents where she decided that she didn’t want to walk by a neutral dog without reacting.  The first time I do somewhat blame on the other dog – I don’t think it was a truly trained service dog.  We were in B&N and Luna was relaxing under our table, when a woman in a wheelchair came in with her service dog.  The dog did not have a vest or anything, and when it saw us, it started approaching us, which is really a no-no in service dog world.  It startled me, and it startled Luna, and Luna started barking.  We immediately took her out and everything calmed down and was fine, but it still was not a good thing to have happened.  Then a second time we were in Denver and walking around, and other people were walking their dogs, all of which were perfectly well behaved dogs that had absolutely no interest in Luna.  These were very neutral dogs, just like we practiced OVER AND OVER in training.  But Luna was far from a neutral dog.  She was pulling on the leash, being almost vocal, ignoring all my commands. 

  So, the Gentle Leader has come back into our lives.  It is a harness type thing that goes over the dogs mouth and clips behind their head, and the leash attaches to a piece that hangs down under the dog’s chin.  It provides the ability to quickly turn the dog’s head to remove their eyes from the stressful situation which is normally a significant part of the problem, and to lead them quickly way in an opposite direction.  Early in our training Luna needed the Gentle Leader (as do many dogs) and it was a great benefit.  It helped her walking next to me, it helped her ignore squirrels, and it helped teach her to be calmer around other dogs that made her nervous.  It also gave me much more control.  She has not needed it for a very long time, but now, when we go out in public, she’s back in it.

  And she is NOT a happy camper about it.  She is so pitiful with it on!  She tries to rub it off, and she looks at Andrew like “PLEASE Daddy take this off of me!”  But I tell you what, it does the trick.  She is the perfect image of dog obedience!  She walks right next to me, looking straight ahead.  She lies down almost immediately in any store or restaurant.  She disengages quicker with dogs that bark around her, or things she notices that she wants to be a part of.  But poor thing, she looks at me with those eyes of hers and that sad expression and I almost just want to take it right off of her.  But I will be strong for a few more days of outings, and then I will only bring it as a backup for emergencies, and then maybe we can go back to leaving it at home.  But here she is from today’s outings.  How do you say no to that face?!

        

   

   

  • 8:08 pm
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