It's a Doggone Shame When Life Gets in Way of Holiday

The Boston Herald
December 12, 1993

We are trying to keep our sense of humor and our priorities straight. We are trying not to let the little things get us down. We are trying to look on the bright side of life.

But . . .

It's less than two weeks until Christmas and we are behind. We have not bought a single present. We have not written a single card. We have not purchased wrapping paper or bows. We have not even bought our tree.

Why haven't we done these things? We are disorganized. We wait until the last minute. We put off today what we can do tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes and we are consumed with other things.

Last week the dog got sick. On Monday she was lethargic, sprawled on the couch like a bear rug, silent and flat. We were worried about her. How could we go Christmas shopping then? On Tuesday she began throwing up. We couldn't leave her. We postponed shopping another day. On Wednesday we took her for an examination and blood work. On Thursday, she had an ultra-sound. On Friday she was operated on. A tube sock was found in her intestines.

For nearly a week she has been our top priority. She still is. We don't care about shopping. We will wrap a big red bow around Molly and put her under the tree, when we finally get a tree. All we want for Christmas is a healthy dog.

But what about the rest of the people in our lives? Molly is not exactly what they want for Christmas. And the clock is ticking. Time is running out. We need to stop procrastinating, grab our Master Card and start shopping now.

But the phone rings as we are walking out the door and a friend is on the line. We sit down and talk to her instead of rushing to the mall because the mall makes us grumpy and she makes us laugh. She tells us her dog story. She has a cat-size dog named Joey who, on Monday, appeared in the kitchen limping and covered with blood. She threw a coat at her 4-year-old, put a snowsuit on her 10-month-old, strapped them in the car, raced back in the house, wrapped Joey in a towel and flew to the vet.

"And you know what the vet said? He asked if I'd made spaghetti sauce recently because it wasn't blood on Joey. It was tomato paste!"

Two days later, there was a real injury. The 9-month-old ran over Joey's paw with his walker and broke the dog's foot! Joey is now in a cast.

We both laugh about this imagine a baby breaking a dog's foot because if we don't laugh, we'll cry. What next, we wonder? But what can you do, we both say. That's life, not just what you expect, but all the other stuff you don't expect.

The conversation ends and we hang up. We are in a much better mood. We feel happier. We look at the calendar and see we have lots of time until Christmas. We delay our shopping trip one more day. We visit Molly instead.

Later, we hear another dog story, this time from a neighbor. Nothing was wrong with Nellie, Liz Parker tells us. The dog was healthy and fine. But dinner guests a few nights ago told her Nellie had plaque (why they were looking in the dog's mouth remains a mystery) and that Liz should really brush the dog's teeth.

A day later Liz was feeling so guilty about never having done this, that she started scraping Nellie's teeth with her fingernail. But her efforts were short-lived because her nail broke and got stuck in a crack in a tooth.

Nellie was rushed to the vet. The tooth was repaired. Other teeth were repaired. Nellie had $280 worth of cavities. "My kids have never had $280 worth of cavities," Liz said.

We commiserate. We have never had a child who swallowed a sock.

There are three morals to these stories: Expect the unexpected. Start your Christmas shopping early. And don't give a dog as a Christmas gift. Puppies get bigger but they don't ever grow up. They're perpetual babies who need constant care.