I usually reserve Sunday mornings to write my weekly blog posts. Throughout the week, I think about what my topic might be, and on Sunday mornings I just get up and start writing whatever comes to my heart and mind.
This week, it’s only Tuesday, but I’m writing my post early because this weekend will be a busy one! My daughter is coming home from college this Friday! She’ll be home for a week for Thanksgiving, and she is bringing her boyfriend and her dog Moose (my grand-dog Moosey). They’ll be flying in late Friday night, and I can’t wait to see them.
I haven’t seen my daughter since August. Her college is about four hours from home by plane with one layover. She’s my only child, so sending her away to college was my first and only experience with this stage of life.
If you would have told me when I dropped her off at her new school almost four years ago that I would be flying my grand-dog home with my daughter for every break, I would have said that there was no way. But it has happened.
During my daughter’s freshman year of college, she decided she needed a dog. She started college during the fall of 2020, so it was a bumpy start for everyone who was starting school during a pandemic. By spring semester, she started making noise about getting a dog because it would be good for her mental health.
I said, “Don’t do it. You don’t have time. You don’t have money for that.” When that wasn’t working, I took a harder line. “I won’t pay one cent for its expenses. You’ll have to find someone to watch it while you’re home for breaks. You’ll have to pay for that too.”
So, after listening to all of my stern warnings, you can probably guess what she did. She got a dog anyway. She bought a puppy that she found online. He was a chihuahua, and she named him Moose. I was determined not to approve of this new pet, but the first time she video chatted with me with her new pup, I was in love. And I could see right away that this new dog was good for my daughter, as much as I hated to admit it. She loved that little guy so much, and it was causing her to mature. She had something else to take care of besides herself, and I could see that it was making her more responsible and less self-centered because she had to think of things like vet appointments, shots, feeding, bathing, and all of the chores that come along with pet ownership.
The next thing I knew, it was spring break, and I was buying her ticket home to Montana, and I learned that it’s pretty simple to tack on a pet to that reservation. Especially a sweet little, tiny chihuahua who has the best disposition and never makes a peep on a flight. He just sleeps under her seat in his little carrier through the whole thing.
That has usually been the story when it comes to raising my daughter. I say, “I don’t think you should do that.”
And she says, “Thanks, Mom, but I think I’ll still do it anyway.”
Headstrong, I think they call it. She is definitely that, and sometimes it has bitten her in the ass. Sometimes it has kicked my ass as her mother. But sometimes she just knows what she wants and what she needs, and she is right. (Don’t tell her I said that.)
So, this Sunday I won’t have time to write a new blog post, I’ll post this one that I wrote earlier in the week. The kids are home, and I plan to be available to enjoy each moment.
