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Never in my life did I think owning a dog would bring my wife and I so much happiness. Ever since I was a child, I had an obsession with dogs (I’ve always claimed to be weird). In fact, one time my neighbor’s beagle escaped his house and starting running up and down our street. A normal child would’ve grabbed the helpless dog and returned it to the owner’s home, I did not. I decided to bring the dog home and play with it for 2 hours. We were having a great time until my neighbor called.
“Have you seen our dog? We can't find him anywhere! My parents have been out looking for him for the last hour!"
-“Ummm, your dog???, yeah, I think he wandered over here. I’ll confirm if he is and um, I’ll bring em back to your house."
On my wife and I’s 3rd date, I took her out for a romantic dinner at the glorious Cheesecake Factory. While I enjoyed the elegant chicken alfredo I began to explain to her that any woman who wants to be with me must be able to have 3 dogs (1 basset hound, 1 springer, and 1 beagle-I don’t think I’m over having to give that one back). Katie, responded by saying she’s allergic to dogs and it's probably not an option. I poorly asked her if there were any allergy shots she could get once a month so I could fulfill my dream. Her response was not positive, which made for an awkward cheesecake dessert. So much for childhood dreams.
6 years later, Katie and I are wonderfully married and hoping to be pregnant. As you know, getting pregnant was difficult for Katie and I. During dinner one evening, I had a crazy thought, we should get a dog. I don’t know why I did what I did, but I didn’t keep that idea to myself. Hey! We should get a hypo-allergenic dog! Katie gave me a political laugh and we never spoke of it again.
The following Friday, I was sitting in my office going over one of my wonderful spreadsheets (you know, the ones you create and love and no one else cares about). The phone rang, it was Katie. She was at the airport getting ready to depart for a girl’s weekend in San Jose. The phone call was odd, Katie is the one human on the planet that turns her phone off at the airport. “Babe, there’s a dog at the shelter close to our home. I think you should go check it out and adopt it. Gotta run, the door is closing, love you!” As the phone clicked, I still held it up to my ears processing the declaration I was given.
I stood up, turned off the lights and left for the dog shelter, (I didn't even tell my boss or anyone that I was leaving I just left like a madman on a mission). I arrived at the shelter and introduced myself. As the employee smiled, she showed me to the dog and I began holding our soon to be dog daughter. I told the dog, it’s time to leave, we’re going to your new forever home. As I walked back to the shelter, an employee stopped me and asked for the dog back.
“I'm sorry sir, we need this dog. We’ve promised this dog to another family that is coming tomorrow.” -“No the heck you didn’t. I’m taking this dog home.” “I’m sorry sir, this dog is leaving tomorrow with the family we’ve promised it to. Would you kindly hand back the dog so we can get her ready to go home tomorrow.” -“Screw tomorrow, promise it to me, I’m here, I’ll take her home now”. Surprisingly, I was politely asked to leave. As I drove home, I begin my depressing weekend alone with no dog and no wife. The weekend would have to be filled with reading, movies, video games, gym, and going out for a beer. I’m super thankful I don’t have time for any of that now, I'd much rather watch Peppa Pig or The Lion Guard (don't ask, it's like Symba's son that fights for Pride Rock or something-it doesn't have JTT or Mathew Broderick so just move along). To cap off the weekend, during Church some people were trying to encourage me. God’s got a plan, it’ll be okay, there's a dog out there for everyone…I politely told them to save it for the singles ministry. I believe God loves and cares greatly for me but having a dog is not high on his radar.
The following week of sadness, Katie and I searched the internet ruthlessly for a new dog. My wife and I found a shelter called Bichons and Buddies located in Culver City. We found a dog that was hypo allogenic (the weird kind) , house trained, and great with children. The director confirmed he was available and asked us to get there on Saturday as quick as we could. Luckily, Katie had scheduled an alumni interview that Saturday morning. What was promised to be 15 minutes turned in to a 2 hour session. When her session finally finished I gave her the Dwight Schrute shun for the 2 hour car ride. When we arrived we told the director the dog we wanted to meet. She looked at us, put her head down and said, hang on. "I'm sorry sir, I don't mean to be down, it's just, we were holding this dog for the Oakland family." I told her that was us, and I must have misspelled our name (I’m taking the high road here). Her smile grew and she ran back to get the dog. Buster, bolted through the door, jumped on Katie, knocked her over and began licking her. No words were spoken, just a car ride home for the 3 of us in blissful silence. 6 weeks after Buster came home, Katie was pregnant with Madison.
The first meeting
Vaya Con Dios