This past weekend marked a milestone for my little Betty that had me both excited and anxious. She has been with me for a decade and always right by my side, between my feet, on my lap, in my face. I even carry her around like a baby, and she molds right into me.
She’s my 10-year old baby. In human years, that’s an old lady, but you wouldn’t know it. Often, she acts like she’s in that terrible two phase, and that makes me feel pretty good knowing she runs the show around here with a pep in her step. And when she has something on her mind, there’s no changing it. You can’t make her do anything that she doesn’t want to do.
Many times, we battle alpha woman status. She tests me and wins most of the time, but there’s the few times that I claim victory…over a little dog. But don’t underestimate this 19-pound bundle of sass and attitude packaged up in a cute little puppy dog. She really has my husband wrapped around her paws. She plays this game with him when he’s relaxing in the chair. She pops up on his lap like a flea and demands attention, sometimes knocking things over that I have to clean up. I laugh inside, but he doesn’t always share my amusement in her tactics. Yet, he always gives in and gets up out of his chair and goes to the kitchen—her favorite room in the house. I remind him that he’s just rewarding her behavior.
I always take her on my errands. She gets to go with me into most stores or she has a fit in the car. And when I have to go places that don’t let her in and I can’t leave her in the car, I leave her at home, and she makes it clear that I’m the meanie. Maybe I’ve created a monster, but I know she finds comfort being with me. From that first time we bonded in an airport on the way home, she’s been the sock to my shoe. Funny how she wants to play with my husband like he’s some oversized stuffed toy, and I’m just the mom who she says, “eh” to. But let me walk out that door, and the dynamic shifts instantly. “Where did mommy go?” Everything stops, and I realize that I’m the glue that keeps her world together. And she does the same for me.
She’s been with me for 10 years now, and I’ve been through a lot of transitions in the past decade. She’s definitely had my back and knows how to comfort me or motivate me. I get anxious knowing that a dog’s life is cut too short, and sadly, this milestone year reminds me of that. So on this birthday, it’s not the gifts I can give her, like the toy she won’t play with or the chewy she’ll give five seconds to, it’s the gift she gives me.
the foodie and the dog 