Sunday, August 26, 2007

The Ups and Downs of Life

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I told you in my last post that the week would be a crazy week and it was. I was able to get my yoga in on Tuesday. Wednesday everyone got haircuts which meant we didn't get home until 6:30. I jumped on the trainer for an hour and then ran 3 miles on the treadmill. Thursday brought an ENT appointment for my daughter and a church council meeting that was somewhat controversial. We are thinking of adding a new service and everyone has their opinion on what day, what time, and what kind to add. Friday was my son's birthday party.

Saturday was my long run with TNT. This week's schedule for the Nike team was 14 miles. The route turned out to be fairly hilly, which is good because it gets us ready for the hills of San Francisco; but hills can be tough, especially when it's hot and humid as well. When I left my house at 5:45 a.m. it was already 80 degrees outside. When I am done running, I am completely soaked and look like I just jumped in a pool.

After the run I headed home for a shower and lunch so that I could make my son's soccer game. He's in yet another tournament this weekend. They won both games on Saturday and won their first game this morning. The championship game is in just a little bit at 2:00.


The Downs of Life

When we got home from the second game on Saturday, we discovered something that would change the rest of our day. My husband went to check on our 14 year old Rottweiler. We've known for a while that his days were numbered and when my husband checked on him he came in and said that he didn't think Harley would make it much longer. Just a few seconds later my daughter came in and said that he had stopped breathing. And just like that, he was gone.

Harley was a great dog. We got him 14 years ago Labor Day weekend. My husband and I got married in December 1992 and the following spring decided we wanted a dog. An electrician working in my office building mentioned that his dog had just had puppies. They were rottweiler/doberman mix. I went and picked one out, brought her home at 5 weeks old and named her Aggie (my husband and I both graduated from Texas A&M). When we took her in for shots sometime in August, the vet asked if we wanted another dog. He said they had a rottweiler who needed a good home. The rott had jumped out of the back of a truck and broke his hip. The owner dropped him off at the vet and abandoned him. Then the rott got parvo. The vet treated that and now just needed to find him a home. We brought him home on a trial basis. If he didn't get along with Aggie, we weren't going to take him. But they got along great and Harley never went back. We always thought he would have a short life because of his hip problems and the parvo. He also swallowed some fertilizer many years ago and spent time in the doggie ICU. But he prevailed and lived longer than Aggie. We'll miss him.


The Ups of Life

To help cheer us up, however, is the fact that nine years ago today at 12:21 p.m. (noontime) my son Dalton was born. Sometime today in between all the soccer, we'll take him out for his birthday dinner. It's a good thing he loves soccer since we've spent most of his birthday weekend at the field!

So that's been my week. School starts on Tuesday so we should be getting into a new routine soon.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

What a week. I am so sorry about your dog. It is so hard to say goodbye to them, they are so wonderful and give their love unconditionally. I am glad you had some ups this week too.
Thanks for the encouragement. I a, feeling more confident for my marathon!

Shauna said...

Oh. I'm so sorry about your cute dog. How sad. Happy Birthday to Dalton, though. They grow up too fast, don't they? Good work with the training. I'm very proud of you! You are amazing to hold it all together all of the time. Take care.

Unknown said...

Happy (belated) Birthday to Dalton!
So sorry for your loss of sweet Harley. It sounds like he gave you many years of love and companionship and a little drama (eating fertilizer).
My grandkids dog just recovered from a bout with "garbage gut". I never heard of it before but it was the vets way to justify charging me $341. Suffice to say if it were you or me, it would have been a food poisoning incident.
I don't know how you do it, Briana, but I admire all that you do to raise funds for research and a cure. God bless you!