On the Rocks

I mentioned on Sunday that this past weekend was set to be an emotional roller coaster.

It was.

It also included significantly longer "high" periods than I had expected and, for that, I am so grateful.

After a leisurely breakfast out with MonkeyDo, we wrangled up SweetPea and MonkeySee and proceeded to my Cousin's house for a Very SpringBirthdayWedding. He had asked me to be his Best [WO]man and I was thrilled to be part of the Big Event. I have been so overjoyed about the relationship he and his (now) wife have and SweetPea, the Monkeys and I enjoy her and, moreover, them so much and it was an honor for us to be able to participate.

We had gone into the day with an anticipation that we'd have to cut it shorter than we'd have liked, but ended up being able to stay through dinner and finally dragging away well past bedtime.

It was truly joyous and I'll have more pictures soon.

Saturday was also MonkeyDo's eleventh birthday, and we celebrated on Sunday with a rare treat - a party at the park!

Since MonkeyDo's birthday is on the first day of Spring (Ostara), the weather is usually too sketchy to chance a birthday party at the park. We've had a terrific run of sunshine and 70 degree days, so we threw caution to the wind and partied outdoors.

It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun. We brought Gomi and my stepsister brought her dog, Bella. We had pizza and cake and friends and family and balloons and presents. What more could you want in a birthday?

Gomi was actually so well behaved I hardly knew who she was.

I took her on a walk around the park so she wouldn't be too wound up and she stayed right by my side and didn't pull or tug or bark or try to take off.

What the heck? Who is this awesome dog?

After the birthday party, I dropped the Monkeys off with their dad and proceeded about my Best [WO]manly duties by picking up and returning tuxes. Then I took Gomi for a bath. There was one last self-service dog wash we hadn't tried, yet, and it was right down the street from the tux rental place.

I haven't decided, yet, where this place ranks among the ones I've tried, but I've been thinking about posting reviews of the Dog Washeries around town. Technically I have two more to try: one that has moved since I used it and one that's downtown.

Anyway, Gomi wasn't totally awesome in the dog washery, because she is really not fond of bathtime or dryer time or the ramps they have. So it's always kind of an adventure to take her for a bath.

Afterwards we stopped for an ice cream cone and then had another walk in another park while waiting for the Monkeys.

It was a really good day with her, and it made me excited about being able to take her out and about with me as the weather gets warmer and got me thinking about places I can go and take her with me. I know of some dog-friendly places around town, but I have no idea how to find more or how to find out what businesses might be dog-friendly before trying to take her with me.

Advice?

We were in WalMart on Sunday and spied a little girl and a grey pit bull puppy sitting together in the basket of a cart, both sitting at attention, facing forward. It was just about as cute as cute gets, although I'm kind of surprised, since WalMart has a pretty anti-dog* reputation.

The glorious weekend had to come to an end at some point, however, and it did when SweetPea called her grandfather to check in.

SweetPea's grandmother had been taken to emergency on Friday. Now, we knew about this, and SweetPea spend much of Friday at the hospital, trying to wrangle up care and answers.

The final word we'd had on Friday night was from an emergency room doctor who talked about taking grandmother into surgery and inserting a feeding tube - a 14-16 hour procedure. Grandmother was admitted that night and proceeded with test after test after test.

The word we got on Sunday night was that her heart would not survive the surgery, but that she'd likely starve to death without the feeding tube.

SweetPea and her grandmother have been best friends since SweetPea was born, and SweetPea has been taking care of her grandparents for the past couple of years. We knew that grandmother was not well, but we didn't really know just how bad her health had gotten and certainly had no idea that she was this bad off.

Grandmother has been stabilizing somewhat with the intervention of IV fluids and nutrients. Testing has revealed that her kidneys are worthless and her heart isn't in much better shape. Doctors are talking about possibly buying her time by treating things medically. They've talked about dementia and psychological evaluations.

None of this means anything to me in terms of time or degrees of health. I know she's in a bad way and that we're most likely counting the remainder of her life in terms of weeks, maybe.

Right now things are shaken, not stirred, and "normal" has taken a vacation. Of course we'll get through, and things will, eventually, be just fine.

Until then, we'll cling to joy with both hands whenever we have the chance.

*Even service dogs but especially pit bulls, service dogs or not.