monday mayhem

Well, since I have not broached the subject of our dog Barley since my fence-sitting episode, I guess no time is better then the present. We did ultimately decide to put him down. Two bites within two months is a lot and we just couldn’t take the risk of something more serious happening to one of the boys, or worse, someone else. I still don’t have the words to adequately describe my emotions or all that was associated with that decision and that day. It is taking a long time to process and most days I am choosing to not process at all, it just hurts too much. Yes I know, avoiding is not going to make it go away, but at this moment it is making it easier to go on with my day-to-day life. I am also dealing with the aftermath of the decision with the boys. Drake is obviously taking it harder then Grady and there have been a lot of tears shed on an almost daily basis. So what better way to cheer up a sad lad then by offering him another pet to take his mind off his loss?

I will now introduce you to Buddy (Grady’s) and Lightening (Drake’s). We had to go to the dentist this morning to get three of Drake’s cavities filled. Our dentist has an incredible aquarium filled with fish, crabs, shrimp, starfish and hermit crabs. Grady and Drake were fascinated with the hermit crabs so I offered to get them one. Well one turned to two because neither could agree on one and lord forbid they actually share something between them in their lifetime. I mean, hello!? …they can’t even share a room!! So after much deliberation they each painfully picked out their new pets and $50 later we were the new owners of two hermit crabs.
Grady’s Buddy started out in the Superman shell but quickly moved to one of the extra shells I put in their habitat. I will also take this moment to point out that it was more expensive to buy a painted crab then an ordinary crab and that both boys HAD to have a painted crab, (of course they did). Thankfully Grady was not upset with the move and luckily he and Drake got to watch Buddy move from his Superman shell to the new and improved shiny shell. I missed it, because I was at the doctor for a possible hernia from my soccer game yesterday – story to come later, but heard it was quite the sight to see! The new pets have been occupying a lot of their time and attention – so far – and can’t get too hurt by being manhandled by two over anxious boys. I also just read that these crabs can live up to 20 years…yikes! I was looking for a quick fix, not something I was going to have to take care of when I am old and gray. Maybe I should have just settled for a goldfish…. Or two!