About a Dog

Charlie
December, 1990 - November 16, 2007

In May of my Junior year in High School my mom, brother and I went to the Humane Society to see what sort of puppies they had. I don't even really remember any of the other dogs. From the moment I saw Charlie the decision was made (mine was at least. I can't speak for Mom and Scott on that one). She came home with us that day and thus started the greatest love/hate relationship that ever was between man and dog.

Charlie was a very bad dog. She ate everything. We're not talking about your average mess maker/strew the garbage out all over the house kind of ate. We're talking about the trash can was full and now it's empty ate. The bathroom garbage was her favorite second only to Scott's bedroom trash during allergy season. She also loved the kitchen trash and, bless her heart, we had to tie shut the doors to the cabinet where the trash was kept every time we left the house until she was 15. The only reason that changed was that mom and dad moved and got a big step can for the kitchen. Her other famous binges included the roses out of one of moms dried flower arrangements (she literally pulled all the flowers out of the little container, dumped them on the floor, then picked out all the roses and left the rest), an entire bowl of rock candy (I didn't know dogs liked rock candy), and my personal favorite was the time she ate a whole sock. This wasn't some little ankle sock, it was a tube sock, and yes she really ripped it into a long strip and swallowed the thing whole. I know because I was the one out in the yard with her when her labor pains started the next day if you know what I mean. We were actually very lucky she came through that one on her own. We didn't even know she'd eaten the sock until our little marathon session out in the yard. It could have been very bad.

Actually, she loved socks in more than one way. You know the dryer monster that seems to eat one of each pair of socks? Well ours turned out to be a beagle mut. I'll never forget the day my mom came red faced into the kitchen saying, "Katherine! What has your brother been doing with these socks in the living room?" Turns out old Charlie had found a new kind of bone to bury and a new kind of ground to bury it in. That night we found 17 socks stuffed between couch cushions, under the throws that were draped over the backs of chairs, and under pillows.

She was an average student. She passed obedience school, but I'm convinced she was just showing off for the other dogs because when she got home she was anything but obedient. We (Scott especially) work with her for hours and hours, but to no avail. All of my other friends could open their back doors to let their dogs out to potty. Not us. Rain, shine, blizzard, typhoon we were out there with Charlie on a leash. When she did get out without her leash hours of chasing, calling, begging, and bribing ensued. She was super fast. I can still see her dashing around the cul-de-sac and behind the neighbors houses with her ears flapping around madly, tongue drooping out the side of her mouth and a delighted, almost laughing look on her face. She never really went too, too far. She just loved to run. And she always either came back or let us catch her - eventually.

One of Charlie's favorite pastimes was telling us that she had to go potty (especially in the rain, snow, or typhoons as listed above) just so that she could stand there and enjoy the outdoors. In her later years she would do this (sometimes I wondered if she was remembering old times when she could slip her collar and run), only she'd get everything turned around and if she actually had to go potty she'd wait until she came back inside (much to Dad's complete displeasure).

She was funny looking, too, in a very cute sort of way. She had the coloring of a beagle, with a long nose, stocky body, short legs, and a curly tail. She always sat with her legs straight out to one side and by the time she was 10 had warts all over the place. But her face was really expressive, her ears super soft (although she never liked to have them touched) and her curly tail was always flopping from one side of her butt to the other.

For about six years now she's had different health problems accumulating. Periodically we'd think she had liver disease because her liver enzymes would be so high and she'd act really sick. Then one day she'd perk up and be like a puppy again. Then arthritis hit, and she quit eating and going up and down the stairs. She slept all the time. She was completely deaf and mostly blind. I think her sniffer was broken too. But she always seemed to get better until the last several weeks. Yesterday the vet confirmed what we already knew. She had a huge mass in her abdomen and she was in a lot of pain and there is nothing he can do for her. It's time for us to let her go.

She was put down tonight. It's been kind of a rough day knowing that I won't get to see her again. Of course I've said goodbye to her every time I've been home for the last 6 or 7 years thinking it would be the last time I saw her, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's just that for so long I thought it was about time for her to give up and move on, but she just refused to die. And now she has and that's a little weird.

Anyway - I know I said earlier that Charlie was a bad dog. I can't take it back, because that's the truth. But for all of her badness there was just enough sweetness and cuteness, and an abundance of loyalty and love, that she really brought a lot of joy into our lives.

So, I know this was a very, very long post about a dog (and I didn't even tell you about the time she was almost murdered by the neighbors dog - again, not kidding), but she was 17, which is 119 in dog years so there was a lot to say.

Catching UP

The last several weeks have been whirlwind. Sorry about the list, but I don't have time or energy to make this any more coherent...

Move - the move went well. We're basically unpacked. I had hoped to have everything painted by now, but I wasn't very realistic when I dreamt that dream. The kitchen is pretty much done; it's lacking a valance, but that will come with time. See picture below.

One of the biggest adjustments so far with home ownership, for us at least, is remembering to take the trash on Friday mornings. We've always lived in a place with a dumpster so this is definitely a shift for us.

My parents came to visit the second weekend in November. Because we'd only been in our new place for a week, we didn't do much beyond house stuff. We had a great visit with them, though. My dad and brother recently put all of our 8mm home videos (for me it's birth to age 7) on DVD, so Dad brought me a copy. It was pretty cool to watch (especially with Dad and Scott's running commentary in the background).

The weekend after that found us camping with friends. We had a great time with 4 other couples and their kids. It's t he first time J and I have ever camped with other people and we hope to do it again soon.

The following weekend J's brother came out for a visit. He stayed until time to go M&D's wedding, went up with J and their mom, came back after the wedding and caught a flight out of Midway the next day. J and his brother are super close, and Jer is really fun to have around so yet, again, a fine time was had by all.

I left on Tuesday before the wedding with the bride, sister of the bride and mother of the bride. It was a beautiful week. The weather was perfect. Outside of the fact that the wedding day had been forecasted at 50 degrees and ended up being in the mid-eighties, everything went as planned.

Both families came several days before the wedding for a sort of family reunion. It was really good to see everyone and to meet a few cousins I hadn't met before.

The wedding itself was gorgeous - just beautiful. Unfortunately, I was too busy during the ceremony to take pictures so I have none to post, but I'll track some down here soon.

Last weekend weekend we painted our kitchen. It took a week to get the wallpaper off and to patch the wall where paint had peeled off, but on Sunday we finally got to paint and now my kitchen is exactly the color of split pea soup. I didn't realize this until the night before last when I was eating split pea soup. I think if the color had been called pea green, I may not have chosen it. Fortunately it wasn't because I really like it.

This weekend, my dear friend and old roommate,

Deb, is coming to visit with her fiancee. Deb lives in California (since January) and is so on to move to Madison. Lucky us, we get her back so soon! Anyway, this is the first time I'll get to spend any significant time with the beau, so on top of getting to see my friend, I can't wait to get to know her guy.

Well, sorry there's not more detail, but I was afraid it would be a while if I waited until I had more time to post.

Here are some pictures to leave you with. I'm including the short hair pic that I promised in my last post:

Not the best hair pic, but you get the idea.


I thought this was cute. My cat is sitting in a basket looking out the window at another cat that happens to be laying on the roof outside our guest room window at our old place.

I just thought this one was fun...

Aulie cousins cheering for the Aulie's at the Family Reunion before the Aulie/Elsen Merger (aka M&D's wedding) M is in the middle.

My pea green kitchen (part of it anyway)

Believe it or not, this was totally unstaged...

New

I feel like a lot of my life is new this week. The closing for our new condo went well so last week J and I moved in and are officially taking our first stab and home ownership. I'll post before and after pics once we've painted (sometime in October).

I had about 14 inches of hair cut off last week, too. It's pretty short. I like it a lot, but still think I want a little more length in the back to do something fun and flippy. I'll post pics of this too, later.

Our TV has been buzzing, even when it's off, for over a year. So we got a new one of those.

And my glasses were 2 prescriptions behind so I got those too.

We didn't plan for all of this to happen on the same week. It just turned out that way.

More later...

Way Too Cute...

So, for some reason I get great reception on my cell phone everywhere but at home. If you know me and ever talk to me on the phone you know this, because I've probably dropped a call with you.

Well, the other day I was talking to my mom on the phone and she said 'you're breaking up' so I moved over to the huge picture window in our living room and perched myself on the window sill. After a minute or two, I look up and J is sitting on the couch with tears running down his face he's laughing so hard. Then I feel something on my arm. Sitting next to me on the window sill was Piper the cat. She was facing me, all puffed up, ears flat against her head, and swatting at me to get off of her sill. It was hilarious. She's never done anything like that before to one of us (only to other cats), but I guess neither of us has ever had the gall to encroach on territory that was so clearly hers.

I wish I had a picture of it to post, but alas I'll have to trust the power of your imagination on this one.

Brevity

Life is short. Every once in a while it strikes me how short (and frail) life is. I'm not even sure what it was today that triggered my reflections, but I wish I could always keep this truth in front of me.

To be totally honest, J and I have been trying for 20 months to conceive. These efforts have resulted in 2 miscarriages, but no baby. As a result of this, I've experienced all sorts of thoughts and emotions. First of all, I realize more and more what a miracle life is. I haven't really been angry, sad a little - especially with the first miscarriage - and a little depressed. Since November, 15 of my friends have had babies; six of those were coworkers all due within 6 weeks of my original due date. Lots of people have asked me if this was hard for me. It seems like it should have been, but it really wasn't. I was genuinely happy for each of my friends, and found it difficult to be angry or hurt that somehow they've been able to achieve something that I haven't (yet) - each little life a miracle.

I'm kind of wandering here, but it all connects in my head. I guess what I want to say is that over the past month or so, I've really felt like God was challenging me with a question: 'Will I be okay if we never have children?' I've always imagined my life with kids. I really want to be a mother, but as I look at my life I think I could be content without them. Life would be really different from what I always thought it would be - but when does it ever turn out the way we plan? 

Believe it or not, this post isn't really about whether or not J and I can have children. It's about my heart and my head and my attitude towards life. When I die, I want to die as the whole, complete person Christ has made me. I haven't been living like a whole person, though. I've been living like a person with a hole in my life. There are things I've put on hold because we're trying to have a baby and I realize that I can't do that. I have to live my life. 

Full Heart

Yesterday was a long, but wonderful day, but I have to give you some background in order for you to get the wonderfullness of it all. When I first moved to Illinois in January of 1998, I came as a youth director for a church. I had long, odd hours, I knew no one but the kids I was ministering to and their parents. Socially, my saving grace was that the organization (Tentmakers) that trained me for youth ministry had set up networks of youth directors called clusters. Most of these clusters were not what they should have been, but the northern Illinois/Chicagoland cluster was kind of the poster child of clusters. We met once a month for a Friday night to Saturday (yes about 15-25 of us "adults" would have a sleep over). We did extra training together, prayed together, worshiped together. We were all transplants from other areas of the country or state, so we were each others family. We were there for each other when babies were born - or lost, jobs were lost and new ones found, and when parents died.

Sadly, over about a 2 year span, it seemed that everyone moved on. They either moved away or got married and changed their name. Regardless, I lost touch with just about everyone, as sometimes happens with groups of friends. I've never been good at consistently keeping up with people. Then, about 2 months ago I was interviewing a young woman for a job a church and as we got to talking I found out that she had been in one of my friends youth groups - and she was still in touch with him. I got his email address and found out he was getting married.

This brings us to yesterday. C and A's wedding was beautiful. I think I can honestly say, with all of the weddings I've been to in my life, I've never seen happier faces on the bride and groom. The best part of the whole day, however is the number of other "Tentmakers" that were there. I was able to catch up with some of the dearest people to me during the hardest and best time in my life. N had been a dear, dear friend throughout my Tentmaker years. Maybe the best. She got married and moved and I moved all at the same time. Then I got married too. I didn't think I'd ever find her again, but she was there yesterday. Not only are we in touch again, but it turns out that 3-4 weeks ago, she and her husband actually moved back to the area. How lucky am I?!

Well, as you can see, I'm thrilled. I've gushed for quite a while now. Our hope is to restart the annual camping trip that we used to do so we can all see each other and catch up at least once a year.

That's all for now.

Generally Pleased

Wedding - Well, the planning of M and D's wedding is going very well. I was a little concerned about the fact that they're family. I wasn't sure this wouldn't turn into one of "those things" that create a lot of tension between family members. But it's been really fun, and we've gotten along very well throughout. And soon they will have a beautiful cerimony and as Dan says they'll be married (which is the most important part).

HP7 - I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the day after I got it. I basically was a loaf the entire weekend. It was great. I didn't think I was ready for the series to end, but Rowling did a beautiful job of tying up loose ends and when it was all over I felt like it was okay that there wouldn't be any more books. Although, I do believe she could continue the series, albeit with a different group of people, should choose to in the future. And if she does, I'll be very happy to read. That's all I'll say about that as I know that some reading this may not have read the book yet and I'd hate to give anything away.

Moving - It looks like we're moving again. I hate moving, but this time it's exciting because we've finally bought a place. Not a house, we couldn't afford that here in Chicagoland, but it's a nice little condo. A good starter for us. If all goes well, we close on Sept. 7th.

New family member - we are expecting a little niece or nephew in February. We're very happy for Joel's sister and her husband and look forward to meeting this new little one.

That's all for now. Sorry about the list.