Thankful Series: Day Four (+#Giveaway News)
All this month I will be watching on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and my new subscribers for my monthly-0r-so newsletter. If you tag me @JulieArduini and tell me you’re #thankful or #juliearduinithankful, I’ll enter your name to win a copy of my fiction books. This includes Entrusted, Entangled, Engaged, You’re Beautiful and the boxed set of A Christmas to Remember (only available as eBook.)
If you live in the United States, you have the choice, if you are the one winner randomly chosen, of print (except A Christmas to Remember,) or eBook. If you are outside of the US, it is automatically eBook.
I’ll add your name once a day for each shout out I receive (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, plus one total entry if you are a new subscriber to my newsletter.) You may or may not receive confirmation from me for those entries, and my random draw is final. If winner doesn’t respond after 30 days, I will choose another. I’m thankful for you.
Today I’m thankful for furry babies. I’m not as thankful for the fur that causes me to go through a steam cleaner every year or so, but I do love our pets. This year we said goodbye to Gary, the cat that came into our lives when Spongebob was new and hilarious to our toddler. That toddler is now 20, and he still thinks that cartoon is funny, but I digress.
Gary had that look of nearly every cat, enough that when we’d see his clone outside stalking for prey, we wondered if he got out again. I nearly brought the wrong cat inside once because he looks so much like that generic cat you see all over the place. Gary loved trying to sneak out, but then whined until you brought him back in. He never missed a meal. He wasn’t too snuggly, but that didn’t stop our daughter from kidnapping him and making him love her. He didn’t play with the other pets, but he didn’t hate them, either.
I’m not a huge cat lover, but I sobbed when it was time to say goodbye. It was a hot day and there was construction going on near the vet. The road was closed the only way I knew to get there, and GPS had no service. When I finally got there, the driveway was blocked. Gary was not in good shape and my anxiety was off the charts. I entered a different way and when they tried to tell me to go to the separate drive, I fell apart. Through a truly ugly cry I blubbered that it was blocked and our cat was dying in the passenger seat and I left the car running in the lot. Soon I was ushered into a secret passageway only staff used and Gary was taken care of in a loving and gentle way. I sobbed all the way home.
That leaves us with Tucker, our four year old Chow Lab. He is my shadow. He is so enamored by me that I try to tip-toe downstairs in the morning like when I had toddlers, in hopes of getting extra me time before the day starts. Nope. That dog can hear me and be at my side in seconds. He IS snuggly, but dude is 70 pounds. That scene in Elf where Buddy climbs on Papa Elf’s lap? That’s Tucker on me. He races me to the garage because he knows when I leave to pick up our daughter. He loves a car ride. He HATES getting his nails trimmed. As tough as he tries to come off, he has cried so dramatically during a trim I had to tell the folks in the waiting room it wasn’t a severe wound but a nail trim. Thunder? He’s a shaking mess. But he has my back, and there are times when I’m struggling that he’s there when no one else is.
Ginger is our long-haired princess and she really has a separate life. She was my father-in-law’s baby and when he passed, we offered to take her. It’s funny because my husband wasn’t keen on the idea, and now Ginger is his baby. She stays in his office all day and just loves to be around him. She ignores us unless we have cat treats, and even then, if she isn’t feeling the walk to get them, oh well.
Do I love cleaning the litter box (I switched to pine because the dust was hurting my lungs,) or taking a dog out during a snowstorm? No, I can’t say that I do. But our home is fuller because of these furry babies.
And I’m thankful.
