GUINNESS (11/07)

It's time to face facts. We are officially empty-nesters now. When Austin first went away to college, he came home way too often to hang out with all his buddies and girl "friends" who were still in high school, and the nest just didn't seem all that empty. Naturally, those visits got further and further apart as time wore on, but then he would be home full-time in the summers and for holidays. Last summer, though, he was off in Germany studying, and now he has an internship at HP, so I doubt if he will be home at all next summer. Between the job and his studies, we can barely get him to answer emails these days, and with Alexis off in San Diego, the nest is beginning to feel very empty indeed. It has made us suddenly nostalgic for the good old days when they were small, and has started us thinking about grandbabies. Since we are old-fashioned enough to believe it is preferable to get them married off first, and since neither of them is even in a relationship right now, we may have a while to wait.

In the meantime, John has turned his attention to the next best thing - wanting a puppy. Since he was never actually in charge of any of our previous dogs, it is easy for him to just remember the pleasant things about pet-ownership, and gloss over the not-so-pleasant. I remember it all. Quite vividly. So, each time he brings it up, I tell him "Fine, you can go get one any time you want. But just remember, this time it is your dog. That means I get to take it on walks when I feel like it, or snuggle and play with it whenever I'm in the mood, and the rest of the time I get to ignore it and all of its messes completely. And I don't have to take it to the vet or make arrangements for it when we want to go out of town on the spur of the moment. Comprendez?" Somehow, in his mind, that translates to "My wife is mean. She won't let me have a dog." He probably would have bought one eventually, but then something wonderful happened. Guinness!

Now that Austin has some money coming in, and an apartment, he decided it was time that he had a dog. He went to the SPCA and found a precious little reddish-brown, short-haired female mutt, and named her after his favorite beer. Finally I know what my father-in-law meant when he said "If I'd known how much fun they would be, I would have skipped over having kids, and gone straight for grandkids!" It didn't take but five minutes for us to fall madly in love with her, but seeing the hoops that she has put Austin through brought the reality of pet-ownership back into clear focus - especially for John. Hearing Austin talk about sleeping on the floor next to her all night long when she was sick, had me thinking "Better you than me!" It still hurt, to hear about her misery, but it wasn't near as gut-wrenching as being there in person, with those poor little puppy dog eyes looking up at you pleadingly, and feeling completely helpless. And hearing about Austin's trip back to school with her, immediately after she had been spayed, when he had to gently lift her out of a crate full of poop and barf, so as not to disturb her stitches, had John practically gagging in sympathy. We were hoping she would outgrow her severe motion sickness, but it has been a continual problem. The vet was able to prescribe something for the vomiting, but she still floods Austin's car with drool each time they have to go anywhere (a side effect of motion sickness in dogs). He hates to put her through it, and the pills are outrageously expensive, so they stick pretty close to home.

Needless to say, we were ecstatic when he called out of the blue last week, to say that he and Guinness needed a break, and wanted to meet us in Wimberley. John and I almost fought over who got to take her out for walks and potty breaks, and even enjoyed it when she dragged Austin out of bed at the crack of dawn, and he proceeded to bring her upstairs to our bedroom and encouraged her to leap up into the middle of our bed. Still, we are also quite happy that it's not our faces that she is whacking with her big paws every singe morning, and that we are not the ones desperately trying to figure out what to do with her over the holidays, when we want to go somewhere that she can't come along. Yep - being a grandparent is gonna be great!