Pets

Aside from two outdoor cats and a guinea pig, I have never had a pet of my own. I’ve contemplated a dog many times during my single life, but was never in a good position to get one. In Texas, I worked too far from my house to make a trip home to let it out convenient. In Minnesota, I wasn’t allowed dogs at my apartment. It was all probably for the best.

Pets are a huge responsibility. I decided this last week while we were at my parents that a caterpillar is the perfect pet. Emry adopted one for nearly the whole week (and we tried to take him home with us, but Ethan got a hold of it and ended its already short life, which was quite dramatic). Emry did everything with this caterpillar: swung on the swing, slid down the slide, put it in her basket when she rode her bike. He even went to town with us and came to the park. But a caterpillar is very low maintenance: easy to feed, requires no cleaning, can travel. All you have to be careful of is little brothers.

While we would love to have a dog if we ever have a house of our own, I sometimes hesitate. Ed talks big about training and caring for it, but most of that will end up on me. Which can be exhausting to think about, as much as I would enjoy a well trained dog that would keep an eye on the kids. Lately Emry has talked quite a bit about having a dog. A little yellow dog. Named Biscuit. (If you haven’t read those books, you really should.) She talks about feeding him, and taking him on walks, and letting him go to Grandma’s to play with Rosie, Keats and Gus. Truly, all kids should have pets at some point of time, but after spending a week with the dogs and cat my parents have inherited, I have laid a few ground rules.

1. Your pet is your responsibility. You will feed it, clean up after it, take it on walks and keep it out of trouble.
2. If you leave home, the goes with you. You can leave behind your furniture, old toys, books and just about any inanimate object, But I draw the line at living pets.

Granted, my siblings have somewhat decent excuses for leaving behind these pets for my parents to care for. Grace more than the others, for even if Keats (who will be 14 in human years in December) could survive a trip to Kenya, he would never survive that heat. Caleb is hoping to soon be settled enough to take Rosie, which would be great for Rosie who is in sore need of a psychologist whenever he is absent. As for Abby’s Gus…well, I don’t think she’ll ever take him back. But I really have no desire to be in my sixties, more-or-less done with hands-on parenting and now caring for dogs and cats (the latter of which I have no intention of having anyhow unless they remain outdoors at all times and chase away rodents).  Although I would make an exception for a caterpillar. In fact, I’ll even happily take two or three.