In case anyone has not heard

WE HAVE A PUPPY!!!!!!!!!

Yes a puppy who will not replace Ollie and Rocco and Mutley and Emily, but a puppy who is healing my heart.

His name is Charlie and he is absolutely adorable. Absolutely. He's a lab white shepherd mix and resembles a bear cub more than anything. We are all crazy about him and now a part of me is wondering if he is, somehow, Rocco come back to me.

Before you call the padded room guys to come and get me, bringing one of those lovely jackets that snap up the back, let me tell you a little more.

The same day we brought Charlie home, I asked him for a kiss. He kissed me right on the lips like Rocco always did. Three days home and he is on the desk watching the world go by out of the front window. Rocco loved his desk and being the mayor. Last night I realised that whenever someone takes the puppy our and brings him back in, he tracks me down to my craft room where he has to get in my lap, kiss me, get down and go about his business. Rocco always did that minus the getting into my lap part. Today we took Charlie to the vet. He developed a runny nose and, being paranoid, I wanted the vet to see him.... more about the vet later.
So there's 12 pound Charlie giving the big dogs hell and making a racket. Michael had the leash and was telling Charlie to shut up. Charlie ignored him. I leaned down, caught Charlie's eye and said "that's enough now, STOP" And he did. The other waiting parents looked rather impressed with Charlie's response. We've only had him since friday, mind you. Again, Rocco always obeyed me. Either Charlie is Rocco in a new suit or Rocco whispered in Charlie's ear about what he could do to melt my heart.

Now the vet. Our vet is a smiling, round faced, chinese gentleman who was as broken up as we were when we had to put Ollie down. He even hugged me that awful day and there were tears on his face. When he stepped into the exam room today, the vet was beaming, I got a hug as he came in and at the end of the visit. I know vets are animal lovers but this man goes over and above. His wife is the one who put down Rocco and Ollie, while the vet did Pip and even sewed Pip's eye lids shut so that we wouldn't be spooked by his open eyes.

But back to Charlie bear... how can I put this puppy into words. The moment I saw his photo on Craigslist, I knew he was mine. When I saw him in person I was even more in love. He's mostly black with a white sploch on his nose and a dripple of white on his chin. He has the softest paws and is the perfect gentleman when he takes food from my hand. He has the most marvelous hazel eyes that I swear he uses to flirt with me. If dogs flirt. His favorite place to sleep is on top of the airconditioning vent and heaven forbid if he gets warm, he comes and wakes me to tell me he was hot.

I have discovered that I really don't mind getting up so early in the morning that I have been. Charlie and I spend that early morning time, in the yard. He explores the yard, vanquishes all the deadly weeds, old dog toys and anything that catches his attention. Then he runs around the house and while I go to find him, he comes up behind me, nudges the back of my ankle with his nose and then takes off in the other direction. Tag, I suppose I'm it.

I am amazed that such a little scrap of fur could have healed me as much as he has. I;m not healed, I am having a hard time lately with life, but Charlie is helping.

And as much as I love Charlie Bear right now, multiply that by a thousand and you have Josh and Charlie. You would think that Josh was a little kid with his first puppy and not a 31 year old man with puppy number whatever. Charlie thinks that Josh hung the moon. Josh is his most favorite person but when Michael comes into the room or Casey, Charlie acts as if he hadn't seen them in eons. My god I love that puppy already.

Now I want to get Charlie a brother. A fur brother. Right now the people are his pack but a dog should have a fur brother or sister as well.

We won;'t be getting the older rescue dog Rusty. I've called the woman twice but she has never gotten back to me and I'm not stupid. I can take a hint. Both Michael and I think she never wanted us to have the dog in the first place and used replacing the gate as an excuse. Oh well. Rusty is missing out on a great home but this means someone else will join us instead.

Warning, I will probably be bloggin about Charlie quite a bit, Bear with me just as you did during my deep grief.

It's a lot for a little puppy to do, healing my heart. I think Charlie is up to the challange.

Now if he could only teach me how to spell.