The Year of the Puppy

On Mother's Day last year, we did the unthinkable--we adopted a puppy!  After 20+ years of being dogless, our family decided it was time to reintroduce a fur ball to the mix.  

Bruce at 10-weeks old.

At first, I was against it.  "Our house is going to smell like dog," I whined.  There will be the fur, the messes, the poop, the dead grass from dog urine, and of course, all the money going out--for food, toys, treats, vaccines, vet bills, etc.  

Then when we adopted the little stinker, there was the biting, chewing, and jumping.  Chairs, clothes, towels, shoes, and our inflatable pool toys were ruined.  My legs were unsightly with scratch marks and black and blues, and my arms were sore from all the pulling and tugging.  "What did I get myself into?" I thought, as this fresh little puppy wasn't seeming to understand the word, "No." 

Bruce at 13-weeks old.

Our "COVID summer" was far from relaxing.  I spent nights on YouTube trying to learn the best ways to train Bruce, and we all had many sleepless nights trying to get this little pup into a potty routine.  Then there was the car and going for walks.  Before we adopted Bruce, I had daydreams of taking him on car rides and going for long walks together.  Now, I was staring at this little pup that 1) was scared to death of the car, and 2) parked his rear-end on the pavement every time I tried to get him to go for a walk with me.  

On one particularly difficult day, I managed to get little Bruce into the car, so I could take him to our town park about three miles away.  He sat in my lap during the entire car ride while I fed him treats--a method I employed every time to get him to stop being afraid of the car.  Once we arrived at the park, in standard form, he jumped out of the car and sat on his tush.  "Come on, Bruce," I coaxed.  "I have treats for you."  Surely, this little pup would walk with me on his leash if he knew I'd be doling out his favorite treats.

Little Bruce wouldn't budge.  In fact, he got off of his rump and started tugging in the opposite direction.  Now he wanted to go back into the car!  "What the...?" I mumbled under my breath, "Oh no you don't!"  A battle of the wills ensued--Bruce jerking in one direction and me in the other.  I was tired and cranky (after getting less than four hours of sleep because of you-know-who).  "Look," I scolded, "you're not the boss.  I'm the boss.  We're going to take a walk in this park, and you're going to like it."  I scooped the then 15 lb. Bruce into my arms, and I carried him to the trailhead.  Then I put him down.  The car was no longer in sight. "Are you ready?" I asked.  

Little Bruce belted out a few whimpers, but then he reluctantly walked.  By the time the 30 minute walk was up, the little pup was practically trotting with excitement.  (Now he didn't want to go back in the car!)

Bruce at 22-weeks old. (About 35lbs.)

As I write this now (almost seven months after our Matthies Park escapade), I'm giggling.  My stubborn little 15 lb. puppy is now almost 60 lbs.  There'd be no way I could scoop him up.  It was a long spring/summer/fall/winter, but sure enough, like magic, Bruce has become this lovable fixture to our family.  After 200+ car rides and walks, Bruce has officially become the walking buddy I've dreamed about, and we've explored at least 25+ new trails together in Connecticut.  (If I didn't have to work, I would have easily tripled that number.)  

Don't get me wrong.  He's still a puppy, and he still gets himself into mischief.  Watch out for unsupervised chicken tenders (or anything food related), rolls of toilet paper, and slippers/hats/gloves.  If it's out in the open, he will find it!  However, most of his mischief is done in a teasing manner...usually to coax a treat out of us when he lets go.  When things relax a bit this summer, I might sign him up to get a bit more training, but for the most part, he's a happy-go-lucky pup that loves to play, explore, eat, and give everyone love.  Now we can't imagine a day (or night) without him!

A COVID Summer

This summer has been, well, different.  There's no summer camp, no pool parties, no amusement parks, no sleepovers, and, so far, no vacations.  Perhaps the most difficult decision was to cancel (or postpone) our trip to Glacier National Park.  In July, we were going to go on an awesome 10 day trip of hiking, sightseeing, boating and adventure parks, but as the date grew nearer, we realized it would be too risky to fly and be in crowded spaces, especially since we have my 76 year-old mom living in the same house!

I can't say, however, this summer has been terrible.  We are still managing to visit friends and family (one small group at a time), and we've been spending more time outdoors than ever before.  Even more, we've added our puppy, Bruce, into the mix, and he's made life anything but boring. 

Here's Summer 2020 at a glance:

In June, we went strawberry picking.  We tried a new farm and loved it.  The social distancing was perfect so that neither of us needed to wear a mask, plus the strawberries were ripe, juicy, and delicious.  We even treated ourselves to a Dunkin' Donuts Frozen Hot Chocolate on the ride back home.  It was the perfect treat to end a perfect day outdoors.

We went to the lake house!  Friends of my dad invited the three of us to enjoy a day at Gardner Lake in Salem, CT.  Not only was the ride beautiful (we took back roads that brought us through Durham, Haddam, and East Haddam), but we had a chance to swim, relax on floats, jet ski, and go tubing.  It was a beautiful day spent outdoors reminiscing with old family friends.

We swam, lit a campfire, and made s'mores.

We hiked in new places...many new places...

And we enjoyed lots of puppy antics while watching Bruce grow!!

And so while life has definitely been moving slower, we haven't been doing less.  We are just having a chance to enjoy the simpler things...right next to home.  

Saying Goodbye to Ninny

On June 26, 2020, we had to say goodbye to our beloved Ninny (my mother-in-law and Little Lewie's grandmother).  If 2020 wasn't hard enough, Ninny learned just five weeks earlier that she had stage four stomach and uterine Cancer.  The news was a blow to all of us, but we never would have guessed that just a short five weeks later, she would be joining her husband (Papa) in heaven.

Ninny was a staple at all of our family gatherings--picnics, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, weddings, baptisms, and First Communions (to name a few).  Little Lewie was her fourth grandchild (out of six grandchildren), and Ninny even had one great grandchild.  She LOVED kids, and needless to say, she LOVED watching Lewie as a baby when I started going back to work on a part-time basis.  Her house was filled with goodies (cookies, cupcakes, ice cream), and in the background, some sort of cartoon would be playing on TV.  Anytime Little Lewie visited, he'd ask for her special cinnamon toast. (I personally loved her coffee and cheese cake.)  Of course, Florence knew how to cook just about anything Italian, too.

When I started dating Lew, Florence's first question to me was "How old are you?"  My husband had been in two serious relationships before me--one with a woman about ten years older and another with a girl ten years younger.  She had seemed relieved when I told her I was only five years younger than Lew; of course, neither of us thought at the time that we would become relatives through marriage.

Through the years, I learned more and more about Florence; she loved telling stories and could talk for hours through the night.  There were stories about how she and her husband met; stories about her three children; stories about moving to Pennsylvania and Massachusetts; stories about living in different neighborhoods of Waterbury, CT; stories about how many bones my husband broke throughout his childhood; stories about her strange neighbors; stories about her children's friends; stories about her ceramics studio; and stories about when she worked as a recreational therapist at Abbott Terrace Health Center.  Yes, when she grabbed a cigarette in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, that was the cue to sit back and relax because I knew I would be visiting for a while.

After Papa's death, Florence was crushed.  The two of them had been married for close to 50 years; she no longer had her life partner.  (Of course, before his death, Papa had been sick for ten of those years, and Florence was his caregiver, visiting nurse, and wife all rolled up into one.)  Unfortunately, most of the years I knew Florence was during this very difficult time; her heart was troubled and so the only time we'd get a few glimpses of her old self would be during the holidays.

Before Papa's illness, she was funny, generous, free-spirited, spiritual, artsy, and sometimes even the life of the party.  She loved painting and ceramics, flowers, nature, photos, and loose flowy clothes.  She adored spoiling her grandchildren, and she loved when her children would tease her--especially about her long-winded stories or her martyr syndrome complex.  (Florence would sacrifice anything for her children and grandchildren, and she wasn't shy in letting us know about it either.)

Yes, the Coronavirus has changed everything this year, but so has Ninny's death.  My husband went from anxious/lifesaving mode in June to pure grief and sadness in July.  We're all sad.  The saying, "Time heals all wounds" is fitting here.  I wish there was some sort of magic pill we could take to make everything happy and carefree again, but unfortunately, I know that can only come with time.

I end this post with my husband's favorite picture of his mom.  As the story goes, my husband was in a popular cover band in South Carolina during his graduate school days.  One of his favorite life moments is when he was able to tour with the band in Connecticut, and all of his friends and family came out to see him.  (I didn't know him then.)  His mom was so proud of him that she rushed the stage and kissed his cheek while he was playing; the evidence is in this photo here...

She was super proud of my husband and his musical talent...  I think she was proud of his choice in a wife, too!