We Love(d) Lucy

I've made an interesting realization: I'm not a big fan of "easy." I'll tell you that I am. But the facts will always rat me out. I mean, would a person who is a fan of making things as easy as possible sign up for the marathon for a second year straight knowing FULL well how impossible the training schedule ended up being last year? And yes, we moved and all that, but a person who is currently struggling to maintain a very pathetic ten miles a week probably had no business signing up for the marathon. (Of course, I have been injured, so that can act as an excuse of sorts.)

But this post isn't about running. It's about easy. Or not easy, as the case may be. My girls are coming into their own. They play outside on the swingset, and I find myself sitting there with nothing to do. Ditto the park. They don't need me as much as they once did. And yet, depending on the day, I'll still tell you that they need me a staggering amount. There's no denying, though, that things are getting easier. We're moving away from the diapers and sleep training and bottles and high chairs and strollers. We're moving toward easier.

And right about the time we get easier is the time when I decide we just have to throw a monkey wrench in things. This time, that monkey wrench was Lucy, a mutt we fostered for two weeks from a somewhat local shelter. The first few days plunged us into unknown territory, and I thought to myself, "What did I have against easy? Against sleeping in on a weekend morning without someone whining and nudging me awake at 5:45?"

Still, for the two weeks Lucy was with us, she added something to our family. Something that seemed worthwhile enough to make me willing to put up with the fur and the 5:45 walks and the whole picking up poop thing (and at a time when I thought my diaper days were firmly behind me!). We had to bring her back on Saturday because of aggression issues that I just couldn't overlook. But I hope we'll be able to try again soon. In the meantime, we all have a dog-shaped hole in our hearts. Is it really better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Food for thought on this Tuesday morning.