Once a Mother.......

I thought that my life would become simpler once my daughter moved out of the house to go to college and then got married, but it seems that I was wrong....

Perfect example: While I was raising Elizabeth, "we" collected animals. By the time she married and started her own family, I was left with three dogs and two cats. The kids lived on a sailboat at first, and adopted "Tucker" the cat from the animal shelter........he's half feral and half Siamese - believe me, it's quite a combination!

When Elizabeth became pregnant, they moved from their boat into an apartment that didn't allow pets. Tucker came to live with me "temporarily". He's still here.

Old age and illness took care of two cats and two dogs. Doing the math, this leaves me with one dog and one cat. Simple? NOT!!! Spencer the dog weighs 65 lbs. and is highly allergic, so he has to have special food that costs $60+ for a 15-lb bag that lasts him about 2 -3 weeks. He has to have special shampoo, and pills to maintain his no-itch status. He's not allowed to have ANY other food.....try to explain that to a dog with a passion for people food!

Then there's Tucker......NOT the sharpest knife in the drawer......he constantly overestimates his abilities, and has:

1. Been on the losing end of a fight with a possum when he was younger.......

2. Lost almost ALL of his claws another time (I don't even want to know)....but they grew back.....

3. Gotten in the way of an angry dog with BIG teeth...

4. Alienated the dog since he loves Spencer's special fish & potato food....I have to put the cat out when I feed the dog; otherwise, chaos ensues....

Did I mention that he also has asthma? When I look at him, I just see dollar bills (make that $100 dollar bills) with wings on them, flying out of my bank account......Tucker's latest: One eye was swollen shut and obviously painful, so we went to see our vet. Outcome: He had a 3/4" piece of wood lodged in the side of his eye - Ouch! So now I get to administer eye drops every two hours........

But, just like when Elizabeth was little, there was always AT LEAST one time during each day when I was filled with happiness to have her in my life......same with the animals, although these days, it's quite often when they're asleep! I wouldn't have it any other way........