A Joyful Marriage - Week 21
By Amy Miller
The joy I found in my marriage this week was adding this little guy to our family :)
I’ll preface the story of this joy by saying that I did not think I would ever have a dog, or any pet for that matter. I’ve specifically told people I won’t have a pet, haha. I grew up with quite a variety of pets and I guess it just never became a passion of mine. I also have other opinions and honest concerns about having a pet, especially when it comes to cats because I’m very allergic. Obviously, I caved!
My husband put together a well-researched presentation about the idea of getting a dog, including his plan of taking care of it. He suggested the Cavalier King Charles breed would be the best for us both, but mostly for me – low energy, they don’t bark a lot, small, and mostly a lap dog. If it was any other dog, I probably would not have been on board!
And then in our search for the right dog, we came across this little guy, and just instantly fell in love! Crazy enough, we both were thinking the name Oliver (Oli for short) without even discussing it previously! It felt meant to be, so we put the deposit down on him that night.
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Up close of his cute little face![/caption]
It almost didn’t happen
The crazy thing is 12 hours after putting down the deposit and signing the contract for him, life through us a curveball and suddenly we weren’t sure if our circumstances would work with having a dog. It was an emotional rollercoaster because we had been feeling really good about our decision, and Trevor was so high on life with the idea of getting a dog! Though some things are still up in the air, we felt like would take it as it comes and still get him anyways.
Grateful it did happen
He’s an incredible puppy that has shown me how wonderful having a dog can be, because he is so chill, and he is already pretty well-trained in some areas. Part of me enjoying this experience, though, is that Trevor is taking care of pretty much all of the responsibilities of Oli. He is such a dedicated trainer that truly loves Oli and it has given me glimpses into what fatherhood would be like for him :)
Trevor being the primary caretaker is partly why I agreed to it because I didn’t want additional responsibilities on my shoulders, which also made me worry I would resent it. However, now when I hear his little whimpers or look into those beautiful brown eyes, I finally get why people love dogs :)
Oli has brought joy to us in the past few days that we needed, and he has filled some of the voids we were feeling in not having a baby yet. So I’m grateful he came into our family this week!