Love comes in unexpected packages

I’d hoped my next love would be big and strong, with short straight reddish or blond hair. A generous smile, affectionate, a good cuddler and kisser.  My love would enjoy hiking and swimming, have a long easy stride, a passion for the outdoors, and youthful enough to stay active for years to come.  A country-lovin’ best friend who would consider me the centre of the world.  A yellow lab, I thought, or a pitbull cross, like the ones I’ve loved before. Maybe five or six years old. 

So when my terminally ill cousin asked me to become Mitzi’s next mama, I confess I felt a twinge of sadness that didn’t just stem from her impending death.  Mitzi was a little frou-frou dog – all of eight pounds, with white curly hair, a twelve year old rather independent dog who didn’t care for cuddles and kisses and was quite happy left at home napping on her dainty little pillow. A purebred Bichon Frise – even the name sounded prissy. 

But family is family, and my love of dogs is legend, and so I welcomed Mitzi into my home.

And promptly fell head over heels in love.

Not since Lucy have I met a dog with such a big personality, full of silliness and spunk and infinite energy.  She is funny and expressive, boisterous and playful, and yet she also chooses to snuggle tightly against me all night long. 

There isn't a day goes by that some antic or another doesn't make me think  “Oh I must blog about this!”  or that I try, in vain, to capture her personality with the camera – her little upraised chin, her penetrating dark eyes,  staring at me as if to say “And just WHAT have you done with my real mama?”.  I wish I could share with you her many wonderful vocalizations  - she has finally stopped whining and now  expresses herself in little barks and growls and grumbles and squeeks.  I’d like to show you her wild zoomies around the house as she playbows to me, to the cat, to Eddie, and insists – INSISTS – we chase her.  Around and around and around I go, as she hides around corners, flies across furniture, and does a slider into the homebase mat that would be the envy of every Little League player in Canada.

In the next few days, I will try to share a few stories and pictures of Mitzi, the tiny white furball that took my heart by storm. 

Life around here will never be the same. 

You can say that again!  Ah'm in charge now!