Monday, August 8, 2011

Boy And Dog, An Unanticipated Love Story



Dear BonAmi,
Thank you for tolerating nose-picking, tail-pulling, face patting, being chased, and being open-mouth kissed today with a charm that puts you in a class with Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews. The new tenant will hopefully be learning very swiftly that your water dish is not his and that your bones are not delicacies for him.

We appreciate you.
Sincerely,
The management.

P.S. I hope you liked the extra food you were "gifted" today.
______________________________________________

We are home.
We came home to some very special people and have never felt so welcomed in our lives.
We were given some pretty amazing gifts for Million's homecoming.
We also came home to find that our house was cleaned and fixed up a bit more (read: some walls painted, some wood stained, many things organized, flowers on the table, groceries in the fridge) in our absence. It felt like a swanky hotel.
I have never missed home more than I did for the past two weeks, so I've been so grateful just to be here.

This morning Michael killed a huge wolf spider and left it on the bathroom sink just to show me that he "rescued" me. It was huge. So huge that I decided not to put my contacts in until after he picked up the carcass.

Our day started at around 4 a.m. this morning. It's now 9 p.m., and M & M have been fast asleep since 7:45. I'm trying to kick my body back into Minnesota time, so that's why I'm writing this on our first day back.

Today went really well.
We're trying to focus on slowly acclimating Million to our house and ways of life, with one new thing to learn every few days. (Of course, tomorrow's doctor appointment for an international adoptee evaluation will blow that nice little system out of the water...) In any case, today's "job" was learning to like BonAmi. I thought it would be much harder than it was, considering when BonAmi first came home from the boarding kennel last night, Million was terrified and would tense his whole body and cry. This morning, Million woke up and wanted to start patting and kissing BonAmi before the lights were even turned on (and before BonAmi was awake.)

(On a side note, I fear that BonAmi's name may have permanently morphed into "BonAmi the dog." When Michael made Million's board book with pictures of home and family, that's how he labeled the pictures, and we read through that book so many times with the narration of "That's BonAmi the dog. Woof woof woof woof woof! Pat him nicely." at least 200 times while we were in Ethiopia and about 50 more while flying back to the States.)

What I need right now is a good cup of tea, but I might have to wait for the morning for that.

I've got more to say...but I'm falling asleep very quickly.
I'll close with this picture.
I don't deserve them.

3 comments:

  1. Oh, what fantastic news! It's so WONDERFUL watching kids and animals together when there's no fear - how fantastic for Million to have a lovely dog to grow up with. Hooray for pets... and hooray for how well your settling in seems to be going! Great news!

    (oh.... and I recognise that book!!)

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  2. So glad you guys are home!! How wonderful to come home to all of those surprises!!

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  3. Welcome home! All 4 of you look happy and content :)

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