This Is Exactly What It Should Be Like

Raising dogs is an interesting business. On the one hand, I've got puppies so often. I get to play with puppies, and hold puppies, and smell their wee puppy breath, and play with their tiny little puppy feets. And if it's a breed with a tail, I get to see a whole line of tails wagging excitedly at the mere sound of my voice. I'll admit, it's pretty awesome. It's kind of like what I imagine being a grandparent would be like. You get all the fun and all the spoiling, and just about time they start to become a lot of work and a bit of a nuisance, you hand them off to someone else who is just absolutely thrilled to have them. It's a real win-win.

But on the other hand, there are times when things just go horribly, horribly wrong. In those cases, it's rather unfun raising dogs. But you take the good with the bad in any situation, mostly because you can't see the future, nor can you pick and choose the life experiences that you get to actually experience. Just like we did not sign up for a son with Down syndrome, and yet we were blessed with one anyway. In retrospect, I'm very glad we can't pick and choose our futures because we would have totally missed out on Micah. Knowing what life is like now with that boy as part of our family, I would be sad for the me that might have chosen to forego that if we'd had the option of seeing into the future. I know for a fact that I'd have chosen to be content with three kids rather than trying for that second girl had I known that Micah would have been so wonderfully different. And a boy.

Life is more than fair, though. For all the horrible wrongness that we face, there is so much more that we should be dancing with joy over. Every day there is both a sunrise and a sunset. Every day, kids smile and laugh. Every day we have food to eat, and plenty of it. We have so many clothing choices, and a spacious home with running water and heat. We have families nearby and many friends. Life is so good, in so many ways. And thankfully, for each litter of puppies that I end up bottle feeding because of really bad things that have happened, there are so many more litters that are just wonderful from the start.

Last night, the dog that surprised us with a pregnancy, surprised us yet again with a larger litter than we'd imagined she could have had for her size. We have 7 very tiny Boston terrier puppies amongst us. They are very healthy, mama is caring for them incredibly well, and my only job is to enjoy them.

And trust me, I am. A lot.