Go figure

I am amazed. By the owner of this house, Monica.

Ever hear the old saying about understanding someone by walking a mile in their shoes? I try to do that sometimes...put on their shoes, so to speak, in order to understand them. I think it helps, don't you? Sort of delete Monica, insert D'Arcy. Insert me into Monnie's IHOP responsibilities, into her home-owner status, into her relationship with her family and friends, etc. Its goal is to help me empathize with her and see things from her viewpoint. As far as empathy goes, it really helps, but I doubt that I'll ever see things from her viewpoint. For that to happen, I'd have to be wired differently. Just when I think I'm beginning to understand her, she goes and does something like what she's doing now...

Back up. A couple of years ago I was visiting Lawrenceville with my neighbor Mary. We lived side by side in Indiana, and my daughter Louise thought it would benefit us to attend a week-long teaching hosted by the International House of Prayer-Atlanta called "Introduction to IHOP". Louise shared the basement of the K.'s house with Monica...soon Hannah and Josiah would arrive making up the third and fourth residents. One day we were in the car on the way to the HOP and Monica said, "I'm praying about buying a house." Sounds simple enough...a young woman wanting to own a home. But this young woman was living on less than $1000/mo. and was wanting to buy a home in the Atlanta area? Right. Mary and I had gotten to know Monica enough however to know that if she set her heart on something, the Lord would probably give it to her. So we said, "We'll pray too." And we did. Less than a year later, Louise was helping me move down to the new house.

Fast forward a year or so. Oh yeah, how the whole "putting myself in her shoes" fits in here is that I've really enjoyed living here. I've enjoyed the benefits of the house while having none of the financial responsibility. I pay my portion of the mortgage and the utilities and leave the rest to Monica. If I want to help clean, I can. If I want to help out with yardwork, I can. After a while, I remembered how crushing the burden of owning a house used to feel to me when I owned one. Even though 'twas but a little bitty house, I would get overwhelmed at times but the knowledge that the buck stopped with me for all the decisions involved in owning it.

So I would try on Monnie's proverbial shoes and experience her burdens. I would let the whole crushing weight of owning this home push me down and the result was real empathy and compassion for what she's going through. Or so I thought.

Now she's looking for another house! She wants a bigger one for more family members. She's not only NOT crushed by the weight of home ownership, she's positively aching for more! Again I say, "Go figure."

Sophia Sophia

I just read Hannah's blog about our household's newest doggy addition. I think the pooch is a temporary resident here; since she's so adorable, I thought I'd write a bit about her to share the wealth, so to speak. ...The official story is that she's only going to be here for three weeks, but what doglover do we know that keeps a dog for that length of time without falling in love with it?
Truth be told, the night we got her I seriously considered moving out. It was a hot night, we had lots of folks here and the addition of another dog meant four more legs trying to navigate around everyone else's legs. Folks were tripping over owners of the legs. Folks were making comments like, "It sure is crowded in here" "man there are a lot of dogs in this house." OK. Maybe those aren't direct quotes, but I did hear one comment to that effect. And it hurt my feelings, because it seemed that Angel and Rachel, who are real residents here, were taking hits for being doggies just because Sophia had arrived.

And then Angel bit Sophia. He's a small poodle so biting a bulldog's shoulder and hanging on was quite an achievement. Monica grabbed him by his collar and yanked him off after the dynamic duo knocked over her computer table and destroyed her power cord. Sophia responded to the attack by going after Rachel, the weak link. That upset some of us since Rachel's our favorite; she's the one that suffered the pitbull attack last year under similar circumstances. Julie and her friend were taking Angel and Rachel on a walk; things were fine til Angel growled at a neighborhood pitbull. He promptly attacked Rachel ripping open her back~~go figure.
Monica decided to do something about the newcomer's incredible odor and she took her upstairs to the front bathroom and gave her a nice bath. Ahhh... clean doggy, right? No, more like wet stinkier doggy. Monnie didn't know about Sophia's deep facial creases, which are probably the sources of most of her odeur in the first place. Not only didn't the bath help the smell much, it also stopped up the bathtub. In spite of it all, she's grown on us; I think part of her allure is due to her very affectionate nature. She loves to stay close to us... real close. When we stumble over her, step on her or inadvertantly punch her in the head with our elbows she shows no animosity. Quite a trooper. I should ask Hannah to photograph her. Her mouth is lopsided; she has a tremendous underbite, and her tongue sticks out of one side of her mouth when she's resting (which is almost always). I'd rest a lot too if I were built like she is. She's in doggy heaven outdoors wading in the monkey grass... reminds us of a little hippo. She tries to graze amongst it, but after copious efforts accompanied by a LOT of lipsmacking and snorting, she only nips off two or three long grasses before she moves along. The same underbite that makes her so photogenic is probably the culprit here. The trials of bulldogism. Bulldogness?

I highly recommend her breed for your next doggy/companion. She'll entertain you and be great company on your frequent trips to the vet (I've heard that their smooshed-in noses cause respiratory problems). And the money she'll cost you due to all of her other health problems will seem a small price to pay for the joy of owning her.

Well, I hear her little toenails clicking on the kitchen floor upstairs, so I'd better go see what she needs. It's an honor to serve her.

Joys of Life

There's nothing quite like digging up rocks from the backyard and eating poke and goosefoot for dinner.