A few years ago, when Martin was diagnosed with asthma, we decided to make some changes to help him with his breathing problems.  Part of our plan was to find new homes for our pets at the time when we moved to a different house.  I was very sad to see our cat, Kitty go, but really didn't feel bad at all when I thought about life without our dog.  Lucy was a wild dog, big and smelly, shedding all over the place, licking me all of the time and always underfoot.  Guess which dog is Lucy in these pictures:


It has been a more peaceful life without Lucy, but I regret that our kids don't have pets.  I know they would love it, but I also know that there would be more work and chaos if they still lived here (not to mention the breathing problems, our original reason for finding them new homes).  Lately, Sophie's been talking a lot about dogs.  Last night when I was putting Sophie to bed, she told me that she wanted a dog too.  She's been saying this a lot lately, and each time I run through the list of dogs that we know, telling her that we can visit them and talking about them like they are her pals.  Here's how it went last night:

Me: Do Grandma and Grandpa have any dogs?
Sophie: Mm hmm.
Me: Are their names Maggie and Sunny?
Sophie: Mm hmm.
Me: And does Uncle Ryan have a dog?  What is her name?
Sophie: Nolly.
Me: And does Riley have a dog?  Is her name Lily?
Sophie: No. "Lily Stop It"
Me: Riley's dog's name is "Lily Stop It"?
Sophie: Mm hmm.

Yes, don't miss having a dog at all.  Having pet visitation rights is just fine by me.