Home feels a little closer

Monday, Lexie and Allison headed home to Alexandria, Virginia. Allison, as a single mom with an 8-month-old does NOT travel light. Stroller holds Lexie, a big heavy bag to check, a diaper bag and two computers. My goodness! Here she is getting ready to pile everything into her rental car and head to the airport in Tampa. Little Lexie is strapped into the back seat and off they go.

She is a very accomplished person, and she approaches motherhood no differently. An Army Lt. Colonel stationed at the Pentagon, Allison knows how to multitask, without a doubt. I was so impressed with her competence. She's someone who makes her mom very proud, and this latest accomplishment (Lexie) has certainly increased her stature in my mind. It was super high to begin with.

After they left, with just Norma Jean and me in the house, it felt very quiet and empty. I realized that my own trip home is less than a week away. It is now feeling much closer, hence the title of this post. Time to get some more life in this house!

Yesterday, Norma Jean and I finally gave up waiting for all the possible rescue places to return our constant telephone calls and headed to the Tampa Humane Society. We knew it would be traumatic, but we wanted to come home with a dog to help Norma Jean through this crisis. She will still be fostering a chihuahua once we get a chance to receive him, but road blocks keep being placed in our path to picking him up. And we came home with a little ten-pound Yorkshire terrier mix, with the shelter name of "Me Too." We have been calling her "Babe" and "little girl" while she learns her new environment. So far the biggest problem is getting her to pee outside. On Monday she had abdominal surgery to repair a hernia, and perhaps that's what is causing her to be uncomfortable. This morning she vomited several times and now we are worried about her.

She is estimated to be somewhere around two and a half years old, could be more, who knows for sure. You can see her tail is going so fast it's just a blur in the picture, and she has that doggie underbite that is clearly visible. Yesterday she was very animated and took to her new surroundings quickly, but today she is listless and acting very unwell. The Society gave us pet insurance but it doesn't take effect until tomorrow, for some reason.

Nobody knows her history, but she was very easy to bring home in a car, she climbed immediately into a doggie bed and perked up every time she heard a motorcycle. Today she is acting entirely different. The vet doesn't open until 8:00 am, but I think that's where we are headed instead of going swimming this morning. More later.
:-}