The Sweetest Gift

Catie Marie is the proper name of my only girl who follows me everywhere I go.   She also answers to many names that suit her multiple personalities.  Being Chinese, she is sometimes called Kim Soo because she can’t seem to understand English when she is chasing a squirrel or goes out into the pasture to find things that she is allergic to that make her swell up and turn bright red.  Miss Minerva is her haughty personality name when she demands and gets what she wants when she wants it.  She also goes by the Irish pronoun Herself shortened to Hers.   When she was a baby,  my youngest son was asked about her and he steadfastly replied, “Hers have legs but they haven’t come out yet.”  This was because she was so furry and little that she couldn’t gain traction on the tile floor and it appeared that her legs weren’t big enough in the back to carry her.

There are other names we have given her like “Edna” who is the grouchy old lady side of her, but I won’t go into that now because she is grinning at me and I love her so.

A sweet gift, yes, but not the sweetest gift.  You see she was brought to me by my sister one day.  My sister,  who gets me to do things outside of my comfort zone,  knew that a puppy was just what our family needed.   I had hinted about it but just wouldn’t take the leap because when I do something it’s not with half a heart.   It’s full on commitment or nothing.  A sister knows these things, especially an older sister.  She stopped on the side of the road and bought a dirty little Shih Tzu out of a playpen and brought her to me.  My husband took one look and turned white in the face as he was imagining chewed leather sofas, stained carpets and scratched doors.  This didn’t deter a sister.  She promptly handed the puppy to me, turned around and got in the car and lamented, “I don’t want to get attached.  She is all yours.”  Our little puppy, who is an old girl now, chews only on her toys but never destroys them.  Heck, they all have names that she goes and gets them by.  The one above is her favorite and is called “Rocky the Raccoon”of which she will not go to bed without.  She stands at the door to have her paws wiped; comes to the tub to have her face wiped; politely touches you to let you know it’s time to potty; and, is affectionately referred to as “Baby Girl” by my husband.   Only a sister could have known this and carried it out to our greatest joy and that is why I call my sister “The Sweetest Gift”.  She just knows.