Slack, slacker, slackest

I know, I know I've been remiss in my blogging duties. I could make the excuse that I now have a dog to take care of, and that is exactly what I'm going to do!

Emma, my dog, is a bundle of high energy and quite the clown. I really think she knows when she is "on" and performs for her audience, made up of mostly me. From getting her head stuck through the flying squirrel toy (no I did not stage that photo) to doing summersaults on her way to or from a frisbee or ball, she is always making me laugh. Perhaps the funniest moment came recently on a car trip. Most of the time I keep her safely in a traveling crate for the in-town, stop-and-go driving, but this was a longer trip, so I decided to let her roam freely about the cabin with a barrier to the front seats (I'm not that stupid). For the first time, Emma was able to stick her nose out the window a bit. At first, the wind kind of gently lifted her jowls a little, but then she realized that if she opened her mouth at just the right angle, whoomf!, her whole face expanded like a parachute in descent. I thought I would have to pull over from laughing so hard. Unfortunately, no one saw this but me. She repeated this feat several times before moving on to other things. She is aware of that comic timing that says when to stop before the joke wears out.

I have learned so much from dog, dare I say "ownership", I think it's more like "companionship", but I do all the grunt work and pay all the bills. I've begun to learn what must be something parents realize quickly, as well. When my dog is at her very worst, I still love her and want to do nice things for her. It must be something akin to what God does for us, only on a much smaller scale. Just when I think I've hit my limit of holes to fill in the back yard or socks to throw out because they've made their way through some part of her digestive system, she does some silly and incredibly cute thing that makes me laugh or smile so much so that I just can't help myself, and I restrain from beating the living daylights out of her.

Being a new "mom", I'm afraid I'll run the risk of boring anyone who is still reading this blog with stories about Emma, but that is a chance I'll just have to take. I have much more to catch up on, but I'll stop here and simply post something for once!