Loyal Dog

Have you ever had one of those days, you know the ones I’m talking about, where you look over at the person that you have bound yourself to for a lifetime and just thought “Shit.”

It’s not that the person is inherently bad, they don’t beat you, they don’t assault you verbally— let’s all be honest, we’ve all said something to our significant other at one time or another that was cruel and hurtful — what I’m saying is that it’s not habitual. Okay, now that I’ve got that straight, back to the original topic. It’s just that… something. You can’t really put your finger on it, just something that rubs you the wrong way. Not necessarily forever, just from time to time.

From time to time I find myself thinking of my significant other like a loyal dog. Not the perfect pet, but the devoted but poorly trained one. The dog that you couldn’t wait to own, but once you got him home and the “honeymoon” period ended you realized that you had a DOG. A dog that doesn’t stray to anyone else for companionship – so he’s not a hound – but who’s just a bad dog.

You come home from a hard day at work and he jumps on you, putting muddy paw prints on your dry clean only suit. Your fixing dinner and he stand up at the counter and snags the steak you just cooked. You bring him home a new chew toy and take him for a long walk. Then you leave him home so you can take an hour or two to do something for yourself and come back only to find your favorite Italian pumps chewed up and a “present” left in the hall.

Your friends and family ask why you keep him around, but you’ve had him so long now that he’s just part of the family and you care about him, even if he frustrates you. After all he has some redeeming qualities, there companionship and he’s loyal. He may go bounding through the woods with his guy dog friends, but always comes home at the end of the day. He snuggles up on the bed, and he makes you feel safe in the middle of the night.

Starting the New Year in the ER

We're home... made it in around 5-5:30. We went in to the ER around 11:30 with my youngest gasping for breath, complaining of pain in the right side of his chest, and a temperature of nearly 103. After chest x-rays, blood work, oxygen, IV fluids and antibiotics and a couple of discussions about transferring him to a hospital that had a pediatric unit, his temperature decreased and his breathing rate finally slowed down enough that the ER doc let us take him home with a prescription javascript:void(0)for a continued hefty dose of antibiotics. Diagnosis is bronchitis/pneumonia - the x-ray didn't give a clear picture of the congestion location.

As of now - he's still coughing, breathing a bit raspy, but much slower than it's been and he doesn't feel like he has a temperature any longer.