I recently hosted a lovely little soiree in my new backyard. My mom helped me out by inviting all the other Assistant Professors in her department, but really it was all a ruse to get them to bring their kids over. Kids are fantastic. They pet me. They are the same height as me, so petting is really nice and easy. They feed me.... on purpose and by accident. They run around. They pet me. They feed me. Hmm... I seem to be in a loop here.
Anyway, so the party was really fun, and not only did the kids feed me loads, but also, my mom's new friend and colleague Yunan gave me LOTS of love. I was so tired by the time everyone left (and well fed) that I just laid around and barely even said goodbye.
Today, I got this really great Thank You card in the mail. Finally, someone is recognizing that I am the one who does all the work around here. I mean, I have to look cute, and I have to bark at people when they arrive. I clean up --- well, I eat what falls on the ground anyway. In general, I think we all know that no party would be complete without me. Do my parents ever thank me? No, they certainly do not. Finally, the Pattersons recognized how very important I am. So, I am including their note here so you can recognize it too.
In case you can't read it very well, the top part is to me:
Dear Savannah,
Thank you for entertaining Theo and Joy. You are the consummate hostess. We love what you've done with your owner's apartment.
- Don (but not Sandy) Theo and Joy
There is another note on the bottom part too. It reads:
Dear Gillian and Steve,
Thanks for hosting the fun party! As you heard by now, Theo is fine. Sorry to leave in a whirl of drama! :) Enjoy the rest of the summer & hopefully we'll see you soon.
- Sandy, Don, Theo, Joy, & Martha
Now, there are some very important things for you to know about this note. First of all, lest you should think I bit someone or something, Theo fell down all by himself, and I had nothing to do with it. In fact, maybe if they would have let me go out and run around on the playground with him, this never would have happened. When Timmy fell in the well, Lassie always saved him. If Theo had fallen down and I had been there, I might have dove under him and saved him. You never know, and thanks to my parents being all strict and not letting me outside the fence, you never will.
Second, Martha used to like me and now all of a sudden she doesn't. I was told not to take it personally. Apparently, she had a little run-in with another dog, and seeing as she isn't really old enough yet to understand complexities like good dogs and bad ones, she is taking it out on me. Well, I am trying to be understanding, but it still hurts you know? Just saying "its not you, its me" doesn't diminish the pain of rejection.
Okay, now third... when I first got this note, I was worried that maybe Sandy didn't like me either anymore seeing as how I (a) didn't save her oldest child from a fall and (b) am no longer liked by her youngest one. Alas, my mom has explained it to me. She says that Sandy is a really nice woman who has good manners, and she probably thought it was proper to thank the humans in the house more so than the dog (That's her handwriting on the bottom part of the note). Whereas Don (like my dad) is just a big, silly kid sometimes, and so he thought it was okay to address the dog (me). So, now I feel a bit better. Oh and also, yay for Don finally recognizing how very important I am to the entertaining schedule of my parents.
When I get done with my walk, I get a treat. I was so excited to get it, I kind of messed up the picture:
Then, I like to lay around a bit, sometimes inside, sometimes out, sometimes near my parents getting some early morning emailing done, sometimes not...
I like to sttttrrrrreeettttcccchhhh my paws out in the sand...
Then, my dad leaves for work...
Then, when my mom goes to get coffee and breakfast, I follow her to beg for my share.
