Edie and I took a quick road trip the other day – she chose to knock out next year’s PE requirement during a summer session, which put a bit of a damper on our usual June roadtrip plans.  We’ve been a bit more grounded and structured than I care to be during the summer, but such is life.

Saturday though, we hit the road heading west. Edie has been looking for a dog on area SPCA websites and found one she was interested in over in Harrisonburg. So we went to meet it. We stopped to visit friends and took back roads home on a beautiful June evening, radio cranked, windows down, slurpees and munchies in hand. It was a glorious roadtrip, even if a mini-one. Sometimes one just needs a good road trip, you know?

Tuesday afternoon, we headed west again to bring Betsy the beagle home.  Edie is delighted to finally have a dog to call her own and has taken the lead in training her. We are all still getting to know each other, but so far, Betsy seems to fit right in.

I have to admit, I’m a cat person, married to a dog person, who is very allergic to cats. I’d have a few cats if I could, but alas. Pat and Edie have wanted a dog for some time and so on the condition the two of them take the lead on taking care of a dog, I agreed. The only reason I got involved was because of Pat’s work schedule was not accommodating his driving over to Harrisonburg. I really had no intention of bringing that dog home, but when I saw the way that dog looked at Edie and realized Edie was there to meet her, there was no going back. That’s how it goes sometimes – certainly in motherhood as well as life, where you find yourself doing things you don’t necessarily want to do simply because it makes the other people in your life happy.  I may grumble about the whole experience making me a better person than I really am, but mostly I’m pretty grateful for it.