Against all odds, we’re adopting a dog. My husband, Tom, sent me links from a greyhound rescue, and since he bombarded me, my defences were weakened and I cracked. I clicked the link and there she was: a 2-year-old greyhound, retired from racing due to an injured wrist; on the smaller side; low energy. Spoiler alert, all greyhounds are low energy. When we met her, she jumped all over the place, probably straining her wrist again, because when we took her for a walk later, she was limping very slightly. Low energy seems an inaccurate descriptor. At that point, though, it was too late; we were all hooked. She comes home on Monday.
I told very many people about how Tom has been trying to convince me to get a dog, and how vehemently against the idea I was. Dog + baby? No thanks. Not at this point in family life. I have too many responsibilities already - I haven’t hoovered in literal months - and adding a dog seems like a terrible idea. My argument, which is still accurate, was: I will be the one who ends up caring for this dog the majority of the time. Tom is in the midst of renovating his new studio space. My stepdaughter is only here on weekends. I am regularly left to juggle work and baby on my own when Tom is out on tour. Add a dog to that, you say? How, I ask. And the answer is unequivocally “no. Not right now.”
I was justified. I was agreed with. I fought my ground and won. But the problem is that actually dogs are very cute and there are a lot of pictures of them that everyone loves to show you. So if you look and say “aaw” with your mouth and also your heart, maybe your resolve starts to dip. I don’t know. I literally don’t know how it happened. Except I do; it happened because I clicked on that darn link. Pictures are fine; I can steel myself against them quite easily. But it turns out a paragraph absolutely destroys me.
Moral of the story: I’m getting a dog, thank you very much, and her name is Paris. My family can borrow her if they’d like, but this sweet girl is mine.
(Both my husband and stepdaughter have protested this line of thought. All I have to say is “good luck.”)