The Pup Goes Out

Today we took Elvis to the park. Rex wanted to make sure he was neutered and legally registered before we started taking him to public places, so I have been WAITING and WAITING for him to be old enough to take out. Today, for the first time, he finally was!

As soon as we got to the park, this little girl ran off of the playground equipment and ran up to us. She had dark hair and was wearing a pink tank top with pink shorts. Think of the little girl from Monsters, Inc. and you've probably got the right idea.

She looked up at me with big, hopeful eyes and said shyly, "Can I pet your puppy?"

People say that right before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. Well, I wasn't dying, but a similar thing happened to me. In looking at that little girl, I remembered the hundreds of times that I had looked enviously at people in the park with their puppies. I remembered hoping every Christmas would FINALLY be the year that my dad let us get a dog (it never was). I remembered "borrowing" my neighbor's dog and walking next to it on the sidewalk so that I could pretend it was mine. I remembered that every time I went to PetSmart, from my first fish to getting dog toys, I would always find the person in the store with the cutest dog and say, "May I pet your pup?"

And now someone was asking ME! It was my turn to be the one holding the leash! After almost 23 years, it was finally MY TURN!

I answered (way too enthusiastically), "Of COURSE you can pet my puppy!" First of all, I could never say no to a girl that cute. Secondly, to say no to anyone who wants to pet my puppy would be seriously wrong after how many times I've pet strangers' dogs.

After stepping back because she was a bit startled by my boisterous response, the little girl knelt down and let Elvis run up to her. Of course he was the perfect puppy - licking her face and sitting patiently while she pet him. I just about teared up; it was the cutest thing EVER.

I think Rex liked being on this side of the leash too. Though he would never admit it in a schmultzy emotional blog, I know it's true because when we got back from the park he said, "Want to go to PetSmart?" I said we didn't need anything from PetSmart. He said that he knew that was true, but he just wanted to go show off our dog some more.

So now that I have blogged to you, that's exactly what we are going to do. :-)