Day Eight of Lent-getting my parents a puppy

For those of you who know me well you know that I love animals. When we lived in Illinois my dad brought home a turtle that he'd found crossing the road on the highway. My mom made me take it to the park and let it go. Truly this was a better place for the turtle but as a youngster I was only disheartened by the fact Yertle was no longer going to be living with me. No amount of convincing led me to believe I'd actually be able to find him again at a later date at the park where his new abode would now be located.

I also had a mouse named Marshmallow. A Siamese cat we named Cleo (after Cleopatra). A dog named Brutus-until his untimely death attempting to cross McArthur Blvd. About the time I became a freshman in high school I decided I'd like to have a dog. So, I checked myself out of class, went home, perused the newspaper, located a woman giving away puppies for free and set about to task figuring out how I was going to get this dog home. Not wanting to forge ahead with this task alone I went over to the school my little brother, Nathan, was attending and checked him out for the day, as well. He was elated and rather giddy I'd enlisted him to help me with my endeavor. We grabbed a backpack, some change for bus fare and got on the express bus headed for the 'west' side of town...a mere 100 blocks from where we lived.

When we arrived at the ladies house she seemed a bit perplexed why one of my parents hadn't brought us but I gave a convincing performance of how it was completely okay with my parents that we get the dog and off we were to catch the bus back home in order to arrive before my mother got home from work.

First problem we had to overcome~no dogs allowed on the bus. I had thought through that issue and had brought along the backpack to remedy the problem. We slipped the dog we were now calling Heidi into the bag and boarded the bus. Heidi did amazingly well and we got home with time to spare.

Second problem we had to overcome~we didn't exactly have my parents permission to get the dog. Well, I had thought through that issue as well and found an old cardboard box for my next project. It just happens that is was February...a few days before Valentine's Day...so Nathan and I painted the box a pretty red with white hearts and placed the dog inside just as my parents were arriving home from work. Viola. We had the perfect gift for my parents for Valentine's Day!

They weren't convinced but like so many things in life growing up what Samantha wanted Samantha usually got so Heidi was allowed to stay. The down side of the story is that Heidi was also the dog from Hell. I couldn't even begin to count the amount of times she ripped out the screens from the Arcadia doors on our back patio. Eventually, my dad had had enough and Heidi got to go on a long ride 'to camp.' I guess considering I surprised my parents bringing her home my dad figured it was okay to surprise me by letting her go to 'camp', indefinitely.

I never did find out what exactly happened to Heidi. My dad said he gave her to a nice family. I'm not so sure that is exactly what happened but in all honesty, I'm not sure I really want to know. Heidi came with Nathan and I on plenty of our hikes on Camelback Mountain. I have some great memories of us washing my car together (yes, she actually made it long enough at our house for me to eventually get my drivers license.)

I still love animals—but I don't just spring them on my hubby or even give them as gifts. I often wonder what I would do if my kids ever brought home such a gift for me. I hope I get to keep wonder ing for the next 5 years until my youngest leaves for college.

P.S. I am taking proactive steps – our family (by mutual consent) is getting a dog next month.