Love Covers Over a Multitude of Sin

Last week, I received a text from the boy that simply said, "Can we get a dog?"

I laugh at this question for m 12 multiple reasons… (1) "we" is not really true.  You see we don’t live together and we wouldn’t be getting a dog together. (2) that he asked my permission.  Based on #1 he really doesn’t need my permission.  He can do what he pleases. (3) I have a dog which he and his family have adopted as their own as well.  Rhoda comes with us when we come spend time over here.  So it’s really not getting another dog….well, I guess kinda…

So I chuckled from the get go.  I had just sat down for coffee with a friend when the text came in and was preoccupied with 5,000 thoughts running through my head, and to get a request from him asking for anything is nothing new.  To be perfectly honest, the boy is much like another child when it comes to certain things.  It’s not uncommon for him to see something and ask for it.  Like "Can we get a boat?" or "Can we buy that house?" or "Can I get a motocycle?"  We’re poor.  dirt poor.  So, it’s not like we can really get those things but I always respond with "sure."

(Side note:  the boy can’t spell.  He swears the proper spelling of the word is shure.  I almost didn’t go out with him because of that.  Yes, I know. It’s stupid.  But now?  He has my12 year old spelling it that way too. :: sigh ::)

Anywho, I responded with sure and he sent me a picture of the flyer.

On my way home, I called him and he started telling me all about Bo and how he was fixed and a year old and good with kids…yadda…yadda…yadda…

"You learned an awful lot from a flyer," I stated.

There was a pause.  "Well, I kinda already talked to the lady."

"That’s nice."  I said nothing else.

His little kid voice came out and he said, "She said that Bo could come for the weekend on a trial run if we wanted him to."

Brilliant man he is… bring the dog for a trial run when there are no children.  And of course, we all know that no children means no chaos…or, well, around here, less chaos.

I again told the boy that it was his house and if he wanted a dog, he was more than welcome to get another dog.

I was told that Bo would be arriving on Friday.

Meet Bo.

Bo is very talented.  Know what he can do?  Bo can climb the fence.  Not jump the fence, but CLIMB it.  I watched him do it.  Know what else he can do?  He can jump sideways and backwards out of the back of a pickup truck while being bathed.  And bark.  Oh boy, can Bo bark.  I thought Rhoda was good.  Bo puts her to shame! And today?  He learned something new!  He learned how to open the screen door… ALL BY HIMSELF!

Know what else Bo can do? Chew up shoes (and anything else left on the floor for that matter.)

But did I get mad when he decided to use my shoes as his inaugural chew toy of the boy’s house?  Nope.

Oh you would’ve been so proud of me dear readers.  I found the shoe while the boy was in the shower, getting ready to go out.  At first, my hackles came up.  I was starting to get mad.  I was right there… on the brink…I was ready to yell, cart that shoe right downstairs and barge into the boy’s bathroom demanding that the dog be banned until he stopped chewing up my shoes until I realized something…

If I was now down a pair of shoes… that meant…

Yup.  You guessed it.

Momma gets a new pair of shoes.

Actually I got two.

The boy, the doll he is, stopped at the shoe store without me even asking.  There was nothing that I saw that I had to have.  I could never replace those…I got them on clearance at Payless about 5 years ago, but still.

Then?

It was as if God was with me because had the boy not gone back to look for work boots? I would’ve never saw the clearance ROOM.  I kid you not.  A whole ROOM of clearance shoes.

I was in heaven as I walked and looked through the shoes, finally selecting two pairs, one black and one brown.

At the checkout counter, I selected my fun money debit card from my wallet and handed it to the cashier as the boy said, "hey!  Bo only chewed up one pair and you bought two."

"Preemptive strike," I said. "Just trying to be prepared."

Bo is still here.  Everyone seems to love him, even me.  And if he keeps chewing my stuff, I can get new stuff, so that’s not so bad, right?

Oh wait. I’m poor.

Ok, so we’re working on training Bo.  Short of the chewing, he’s a really good dog.

I think all of us have fallen in love with him.

Until next time…