associated in random thought

wait. what just happened?

it's been a slowish day, by all accounts. meeting with lovely advisor--who reads my blog!--and small conversation that makes me all the more sure that i'm supposed to be where i am today.

and then i took my funky belly down to halcyon, that lovely coffeeshop/bar downtown, where you can watch the crazies jaywalk, and the gay men decide between oilcan harry's (the hole in the wall) or next door: rain, the madonna-blasting martini bar. and then it was off to book people, where i purchased karen armstrong's the spiral staircase. this book has been chasing me for weeks now, and i finally gave in.

when helen came home from school, we found ourselves lounging on the big bed with lucy and charley and moe. the bed has become a little like a sardine can sleepover in grade school. smush, poke, stomp. only, the dogs lick your toes, and the gossip isn't so harsh.

i digress. moe has just learned to play, and no longer runs away from stuffie toys. and so we bought him a monkey (like you do) with ropey arms. he and charley play tug of war with it, and he LOVES to fetch the monkey and he brings that sucker back like a pro. and so that was the afternoon: throw, fetch, retrieve.

uncle tom stopped by around six, just like he always does, to bring moe out to the dog meeting. (he adores moe, but can't keep him, and so he helps out by making sure moe gets enough exercise.) helen and i were sitting on the porch when he arrived. "hey," he announced. "yeah, so, there's this guy, adam, who works at seattle's best, and i see him every day, and, well. yeah. so, he's interested in taking moe. he's gonna come by at 6:30 to meet him."

i looked at my feet. shit. you know, i've told myself over and over that i am not attached to that big lug of a dog. that we're doing a good thing by fostering him for now, and training him to live with other dogs, and with cats. but, we couldn't seriously think about keeping him in our condo, could we? even though the cats now rub between his legs with love, and even though he loves to play tug of war with charley. even though he's so well-behaved that you forget he's even in the house, until you step on him. and even then, he apologizes, like it was his fault.

shitshitshit. i'm so in love with this mutt. and as tom took moe off to romp, helen and i deliberated. "i'm so protective of him," she said. i nodded in agreement. "will this adam guy have enough time for him? will he be around other dogs? what if he moves to a place that doesn't allow dogs? he'll have to give him up to a shelter!" i nodded again. and so we stared at each other, shrugged our collective shoulders, and chased down tom to tell him our thought: WE'LL KEEP MOE! can you keep being uncle tom? we'll keep him with his pack of dogs, with his family. tom seemed pleased with our decision, though he did giggle at our crazy decision-making process. "well, should i call adam and tell him not to come?" he asked. but of course, adam arrived five seconds later.

tom was very much the diplomat as adam approached. "so, this is moe," he offered. "isn't he great? yeah, so, there's been a bit of a change in plans." he looked at helen and me. we looked at each other. i stammered (eloquently, of course), "i'm SO sorry, adam. we didn't know we could want to keep him until tom said you were coming and wanted to take him, and now we know that we have to keep him, and i'm really really sorry." adam, the lovely lanky college boy that he is, shrugged, and said, "it's cool." we stuck around as long as we could--it was so awkward for me that i kept randomly apologizing again--and then helen scooted off to a dharma talk, and i finally went inside and poured a large glass of wine.

holy shit, everybody: we're keeping moe! do you know what that means? i now have endless opportunities to take photos of him in compromising situations like this:

pee ess: to my sister, eileen: you were right. we kept "peaches" (aka moe). of course we did. i'm a mccarthy.

EDIT: i was just chatting with our very pregnant nextdoor neighbor, rachel, and made the official announcement that we are moe's forever family. she jumped up and down and squealed, hugging me tight. and then she looked me in the eye, like only she can, and said quietly: "you know, all this time you and helen have been preparing to add another family member to your home. and here you are..."

who knew i'd end up having jim's baby. he always offered...joke's on me.

Posted by bananie at June 22, 2006 6:57 PM | TrackBack