Friday counts as part of the weekend, right? It does? Good... cause then I can include how I am now the mother of a fertile, almost-teenage girl... nuff said.

Then, Saturday I had a day that I think I'd like to never repeat again if possible, and it was pretty weird for a lot of reasons. First, a guy I know and love, who's pretty young, asked me when the right time was to tell someone you love them. Then I took my kids to buy some books and a birthday present formy daughter's friend, and then to get their hair cut. My daughter has been wanting to get bangs cut into her hair since her friend has them, and so I told her next time we went, we would look at some pictures, and so we did. Now, instead of looking fourteen instead of twelve, she looks EVEN OLDER! I went to take Rich some lunch and managed to convince him to keep our son with him at work while I took our daughter to her friend's birthday party. It was a pool party, and she wasn't sure she wanted to go because she couldn't go swimming since the day before, her body decided it was time for her to become a woman for the first time, but we went anyway and dropped off a gift. Then we came home and I came inside, and then found my dog lying on the floor obviously sick, so I set the mail down to help her. She could barely stand up and when she did, she walked to the back yard and lay down by a tree and I was crying because I knew something was really wrong, and more because I knew that my daughter would come in the door at any minute from showing her friend her new haircut and then what am I going to do?

Of course, she comes in, and sees me crying and freaks out and is crying too, so I tell her to sit with Ocean and pet her and talk to her while I call Rich, and then I call the vet and I have to carry Ocean to the car since she can't walk, and we drive over, and the whole time Annemarie is being so great! She was telling Ocean that she was going to be just fine, and that she's such a great friend, and that she's a big girl, and that's what Mom and Dad always tell her and they're right, and then I'd cry because I knew that she probably wouldn't be alright, and then she would see me and cry too, until she'd stop herself and say that we need to think positive. She was unvbelievable, really. So I get to the vet and carry Ocean inside and they look at her and tell us she needs some more tests and that they can't do them there and we need to go to the emergency animal hospital so back in the car again and I stop and get Rich and my son since it's on the way and I don't want to have to make these decisions by myself, and then we get to the animal hospital and Rich carries Ocean inside.

So, the vet was looked at her and then came back and said she was very sick, and it seemed that she had an infection in her uterus, which happens sometimes to dogs when you don't spay them, and that it had burst and was infecting her blood and that he wanted to do some tests and left us to think about it, and then as we were discussing it, her heart stopped and she died. Lots of crying and sadness since we have had her as long as we've had our daughter. It's losing a member of your family, you know? We drove home, and my daughter wanted to be with her friends so I let her, and then my son was trying to figure things out and how he should feel and asked me if Ocean was never coming home again and I told him that she wasn't, so then he cried and I held him until he calmed down.

On top of it, and feeling like an ambulance driver, we were only at the emergency animal hospital no more than ten minutes when she died, and all I can think is thank goodness it didn't happen in the back seat of the car with my daughter. And I think I hurt my shoulder/neck lifting and carrying her. She was a sixty-five pound Husky... and while anyone I've actually met will tell you that I'm ridiculously strong for someone my size... I dunno, I guess in my adrenalin-rushed freak out, I probably didn't lift her well and hurt myself. I'll be fine though.

I'm not sure I say this very often, but thank golly the weekend is over and I can start over.

Hugs,

Viv