In Which I Thought I Would End Up On Dateline

Podcast Tuesday! This week we're dreaming of lake homes and looking back over our wedding reception, which happened four years ago this week! Hope you enjoy! :)

 Listen here.

Meanwhile, it's been a while since you had a good Bekahland story. Sit back. I've got one for you today.

Last week, one of Ryan's co-workers took a long weekend kind of vacation, and he asked if someone from work could watch his dog. "Watch the dog" could take any form. He didn't care. We could actually take the dog home with us and keep him for the weekend, we could stop by the house and let him out/feed him a few times a day, and we could share responsibilities as a group if it was easier. As long as the dog got fed and didn't use the cage for a potty, he didn't care how the work got done.

As you know, Phoebe comes over to stay a lot, so I'm used to having a dog around randomly, and possibly any other time, I would have been fine with that arrangement. But between helping out with Mom's post-op stuff and trying to get some of my own writing/planning/book delivering work done, I just didn't think having the dog move in was the best fit. Plus, I wasn't sure Braeya would survive meeting a second pooch. She still hasn't made peace with Phoebe, and it's been almost a year since she became a part-time member of our family.

So in the end, one of Ryan's other co-workers said she would be happy to share with me if we could each take part of the rotation. Sure! No problem. So she and I worked out a schedule, we got all the info from the dog's person, and off we went.

Thursday was my first day to go, and I felt very strange pulling up to this house I'd never been to before, walking right up and letting myself in, as though this were a common occurrence. I wavered between looking around to be "situationally aware," as Ryan's brother calls it, and not looking around too much, because I didn't want to look suspicious. At that point I pretty much figured I was on somebody's surveillance camera, and I wanted to look as nonchalant as possible.

I went in, the dog looked at me with a mix of relief and annoyance, went outside, played for a bit, came back in, refused to eat or drink, and went back into his little home to await his next visitor.

But when I went back on Friday, he was starting to reach his saturation point with his temporary time-out. He jumped and hugged and kissed me a thousand times before he ever went outside. I was on the phone with my mom the whole time, because it still felt weird to be in the home of a complete stranger, in a neighborhood where no one knew me or that I had the right to be inside that house.

The little dog finished his business and came back inside, and I let him run around for a bit just to give him a break, while I continued talking to Mom on the phone.

As I stood near the back door, listening to her story, I saw it. A shadow across the front door. The door has that kind of muted glass that allows you to clearly see if a person is outside, but it's not see-through enough to see any detail.

My breath caught hard and I listened as the front door started rattling. So much for my immediate theory that it was just the postal service making a delivery. The dog started barking ferociously, which I appreciated, but to be fair, the little guy is about the size of a seven month old child, so I didn't anticipate much guardianship from him. Besides. Why would he stick up for me when he knew good and well I wasn't staying for the long haul?

I whispered to Mom, "SOMEONE IS HERE!!" and left out the next part where I was thinking, "AND I'M GOING TO END UP ON DATELINE. AND NOT AS THE HOST." The door rattled again and opened. I froze, backed up to the door behind me, and watched as a lady entered.

She said to the dog, "Do you have company?" I wanted to say, "I don't know...do you have a gun? Then we'll decide if I'm company!!" She looked up and clarified that she was Ryan's co-worker's mother, and with that, I had the longest exhale in my human history.

I had no idea she lived in town or that there was a remote possibility that she might show up while I was there. I have no idea how I managed to NOT leave a puddle of my own on the floor, but in that instant, I was just relieved to learn I wasn't about to be a Dateline story.

So I guess we learned my heart and bladder are both in great shape, and with her entrance, my dog-sitting concluded! She felt bad for the little guy and decided to take him home with her!

I think next time, I'll move the dog sitting at my own home. LOL!!