Puppy Head

Maggie

I am not a lover of animals. I don't hate them. I want people to be kind to them. I am just indifferent about them...mostly. You see I grew up on a "farm" of sorts. We raised animals we ate, had cats that got hit by cars, and just eventually grew indifferent as a way to not be sad when one died.

Jason on the other hand had always had dogs. He loved them; his family loved them. It didn't really ever come up before marriage. And the first year we spent in an apartment that was required to be animal free. So when we bought our house (exactly five years ago) it started coming up. I was cleaning other people's houses full time, and REALLY didn't want to deal with the hair and body fluids that end up inside rather than out.

But we finally came to an agreement that we would ask for a chocolate lab for Christmas. And we did. Jason saw an add for some in the paper and wanted to go "look" at them. I was at someone else's house when he showed up with our new puppy. Wait....it was August....not Christmas time.

So I reluctantly fell in love with our puppy Maggie. She was full of energy, and a little on the crazy side. I liked her though. And a few months later we realized that we were capable of caring for another life...so we started to journey to being parents.

We didn't realize it at the time, but Maggie would fill our house while we waited. We waited tree years before we became parents. And although I didn't love the extra housework a dog created, there was something about coming home at night to something that loved you, and was excited to see you.

The grace of God brought us Maggie to help fill a void we didn't know would exist. I can't imagine the waiting without our puppy head curling up next to me while I cried. But we are parents now. And although Abigail LOVED Maggie more than we did, and we had wanted her to learn life lessons from having a pet, she was allergic. So began the search for a new home for our Maggie.

The economy slowed it down. And we whispered about how we hoped that it wouldn't happen. We had taken in another dog as a mercy house for her, and felt sad, but mostly happy when she found a new home. But Maggie. She was our puppy head...the dog that got us through the hard years.

On Tuesday we got a phone call about her. A family with four kids, and a big fenced in back yard. Things we dreamed of for her in a new home. So on Tuesday night they came to meet her, and about an hour and a half later drove off with her.

We talked about how much money it would save us, how much more room we would have, how much better it would be for her, and how much less cleaning we would have to do. But really, I still cry when I walk by where her kennel was. I listen for her tags to rattle on her collar as I lie in bed at night, and I miss pulling Abigail out of her water bowl. We have really tried to find all of the goods. But as much as we have focused on the good aspects of it, we miss our big crazy puppy head.

Abigail loved to sit with Maggie, and tackle her, and pet her...she just loved her.

Petless in Muncie,