Erasing Positives in Book Six: Trying to Hold On 2019

An assortment of hours, less than 36 hours.

At Marriage Counsleing, our therapist said that we were doing really well. We decided to schedule our next appointment for four weeks away. We left therapy feeling good and excited to visit puppies.

When we got to the shelter, it was SUPER BUSY!!! Almost all of the pumps we wanted to look at were already adopted. We met about 4 new puppies and Wife really fell for a German Shepherd mix pup. We agreed to adopt, filled out paperwork and picked up the dog… to discover that we got our choices’ sister. We decided that it would be acceptable and simply continued home.

At first, it was tough. The puppy was very scared, very timid, and wanted nothing to do with The Outside, Dog Treats, Dog Bed, Collar, Leash… nothing. After many hours, she got comfortable with us and has decided that the couch is where all of us belong. Wife and I need to be on the couch with her between us. The best moment last night was when she finally willingly went outside and started smelling around and running and finally acting like a dog.

Since coming home with us, Nala has eaten less than 1 serving of food, has peed in the house twice, pooped in the house once, and has not done ANY bathroom business outdoors. So, there is some work to do.

Wife on the other hand? Total destruction of her forward progress! She’s been crying all day, talking about taking the dog back, talking about how this experience makes her think she’ll never be able to cope with having a child… and then those thoughts make her cry even note and even harder because she doesn’t want to be that way.

In short: this is like when she got the new job last year. “Change?! A change I’ve specifically been asking for for years?! MELT DOWN!”

Honestly… I would be okay either way when it comes to the dog. We could take it back and I wouldn’t be heartbroken. But I would be really angry and upset. Because it would, once again, be an example of my soon-to-be 39 year old wife’s penchant for letting her selfishness and inability to cope interfere with her life and my life.

In short… if I wanted to pretend that things were perfect and bright in our lives… I would have never allowed us a dog and I would have stayed in the illusion of acceptable. But I’ve never been that guy. I am the guy that pretty much says, “If you’ve got an issue, stop running from it. Face it, fight it. Running away forever is no way to live a life!”