Wheee!!! I’m Thirty-Three!!!

Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! Wheee!!! Ok, I’ll stop. Sorry. :-) (Did you notice my post title rhymed? Aaaawww, yeah!)

My spin class this morning took the time to decorate my bike with balloons and to put together an amazing homemade birthday card. Everyone’s pictures are on the card in various “work-out” poses. It is a very special card and I’m always going to treasure it. Jan is the organizer of the Monday spin group and she never ceases to amaze me with her talents and her generosity of spirit and time. It has been such a rough few weeks that I just didn’t know how much I needed all of their loving energy until 5:45 a.m. this morning when I saw the decorated bike!!! Awesome.

Well, I keep meaning to blog about my trip out east, but last week was a week of catch-up at work, home, and otherwise. Madness! I still can’t wait to post pics from our trip. It was so much fun. I’m so glad we got to take a little break from our home full of Nick’s presence and his sweet memories. Our friend Justin took care of Captain Morgan while we were gone. It was so funny hearing his little squawks of displeasure from Justin’s car as they drove off. I’m sure he was wondering if his mommy and daddy were giving him away. Poor birdie!

My baby sister called me this morning after I sent her the picture of my decorated spin bike. I wonder if I’ll hear from my other two sisters? Hmm, we shall see.

I got a great Chicago Bears mug (it’s huge!) with Bears socks for the football season plus a Cefalu's lunch from my co-workers, plus a PHAT Visa gift card from my boss!

It’s been a great day. Actually, my August is fantastic. I’m so glad July is over. I had a couple bouts of the blues last week, but other than that things have been lookin’ up around here.

On Saturday we drove all around Orange County visiting different Golden Retrievers that have been rescued. We’ve already adopted Milo and we’re picking him up at the end of this week. Milo can’t be an only dog so we needed to find another dog for him, and obviously for us and for the Cap’n. We took the Captain with us to “test drive” the new possible additions to our family. Poor bird was so freaked out in the car. He hates being out of his element.

There was a sweetheart red Golden named Canela (Spanish for cinnamon) who got along very well with the Cap’n, but we realized that she was a lot sicker than anyone realized. Everyone thought she is doing ok considering she is recovering from the flu, but there was definitely something else up with her. GRCGLA is going to hang on to her for a little while longer and make sure she gets all the treatment she needs.

We finally got to meet Achilles. We actually visited him first and I just got this sensation of warm, rushing water falling over me. Achilles just turned 13 and he just completely stole the little corner of my heart that is not occupied by the memories of Nick. I knew there was something about him that I’d like based on what Carole (his foster mom) described to me over these past few weeks, and of course based on the pictures of him on the rescue website. Of course, he has the adorable curly butt just like Nick did, so that didn’t hurt his cause any. In all fairness to poor Milo, I did get to meet Achilles a few weeks after Nick's passing and not FOUR days after!!!

I wanted to adopt him even though he is 13. I always want to have a senior puppy. They are always the forgotten ones and so they will always be welcome in our home. Everyone is concerned (and rightfully so) that I’ll be even more devastated when I lose Achilles given that he is already so old, and also given that I haven’t taken Nick’s loss very well at all. It's understandable, but I’ve come to learn a few things about myself.

Nick was my very first golden boy and I was so in love with him. I still am. I really, really believed that if I loved him well enough, if I loved him hard enough, if I cooked all the right foods, and rinsed all his apples with anti-pesticide spray, and steamed organic broccoli for him, and all that other stuff I did, that I would somehow have been able to stave off the inevitable, that I could somehow play God and take his cancer from his poor body. Obviously, I didn’t succeed. This time around I’m going to make sure I keep a much more concrete line between what is reality and what are my expectations and hopes for Achilles, and for all my future senior citizen puppies.

Ed bought Achilles a Chicago Cubs collar and leash, since he already bought Milo a Naval Academy leash & collar set when we were back east. We bought two new dog beds and doggie blankies, and also had dog tags made. I’m donating Nick’s old dog bed to the shelter now that I washed it. I’m also going to donate a couple of bags of Nick’s favorite food and treats in his honor. Nick didn’t normally like to share food so I’m hoping he’ll be flexible with the fact that mommy is making these donations for him. :-)

Ok, I didn’t know how I was going to feel about another dog eating from my baby Nick’s bowls. While Milo was with us for just that one day I couldn’t bear to have him do so and I told Ed to use a couple of plastic bowls that we have. But, when we went shopping for new dog feeders for Achilles and Milo, I decided that Achilles could have Nick’s raised feeder. I was ok with it. He is an elderly boy just like my Nick, so I think that Nick’s raised feeder will always be for our senior citizen pups. Gosh, I am so weird, aren’t I? It’s a dog bowl set for Pete’s sake!!!

Check out our Achilles here:
http://www.grcglarescue.org/RP_Adoptable.asp?cid=All

He’s the first dog listed. Milo’s picture has already been moved over to the Past Adoptions page.

Ed’s birthday is on the 10th, this Friday. We have a tradition of celebrating together on the 8th, right in the middle of our birthdays. It is our PARTY day, and I mean PARTY, just for the two of us. We often tease our friends that we’re going to run off and elope on 08-08-08 since that’s our party day anyway! Ha!

Well, in addition to it being Ed’s birthday on the 10th, it will also be the one month mark of my golden baby Nick’s passing. Furthermore, the 10th will be the first day of the new chapter of our lives with Achilles and Milo.

August is packing just as much of a punch as July. Thank goodness it will be a sweet, tender kiss of a punch compared to July’s sucker punch. It makes me stop and remember just how blessed my life is even with all the drama I’ve endured this year.