music to my ears: a Chicago and Henry day

How could I neglect to tell you that the eleven finalists of the Chopin Competition were selected yesterday! Among this noble group you will find two Americans, one Pole, just one of the favored Canadians, four women and among them -- my own "I'm rooting for you" favorite -- the 16 year old Tianyao Lyu from China. All eleven will play (along with the Warsaw Philharmonic) one of the two piano concertos and a Polonaise. It's going to be a tense weekend!

But not for me. I have four things going and they're huge! But not tense. 1. There's the Chopin to listen to, especially tomorrow, after Tianyao plays; 2. There is Chicago: I scheduled a visit with my daughter and her two girls (dad's away) and it's a good thing that I did! It fit in well, given the weeks ahead; 3. We are coming onto Ed's 75th and our 20th, this Monday. We will be celebrating for sure. Though he wont admit it because, you know, every day is a birthday and anniversaries are silly. 4. Today I adopted Henry.

Henry??? Who is Henry???

Well, one of the local shelters wrote to me late yesterday -- do I still want Henry? He is a black lab/retriever mix. That's Goose's combo too and indeed, Henry also comes from Texas -- abandoned there, sheltered and transported to Wisconsin just a week ago where again he found shelter in a shelter.

Henry was born in March and I gather he has never known a home life, so he remains somewhat of a mystery. Is he house-broken? Who knows. Does he know how to walk on a leash? Um, ask me later in the week. What I do know about him is that he has a temperament that I think fits well with mine: he is chill. Seemingly not excitable. Quiet. Cautious, but cuddly. That's all that the shelter knows about him and I confirmed much of it today when I went to meet him.

 

 

 

Here's how that happened: as you know, I expressed interest in about ten rescue dogs that I can pick up within 100 miles of here. Out of literally hundreds whose profiles I studied. Some had detailed descriptions, some, like Henry, had only a few sentences, because what more could you say after only a one week shelter stay. Out of my ten picks, by this morning, three had responded. Henry's shelter wrote to me first. And the application for him was the shortest. Clearly the place (which we know well, because it is where Ed takes the feral cats to be spayed) wants to find homes quickly so that they can make space for the never-ending stream of mistreated and abandoned dogs.

By midnight last night I pretty much knew Henry would be coming home with me (at the end of the weekend, because, well, right now I am in Chicago!).

I spent a chunk of the night, making lists of needed supplies and getting Amazon to hightail them over to the apartment by Saturday. They are so good at that! And I made an appointment to visit Henry at noon.

This morning, well, there was a quick breakfast...

I packed for Chicago, and went to Mounds to get a crate for the guy. Amazon cant quite promise one that quickly. I had the feeling that I would like him, so I even ordered a tag with his name before I met him.

With all those swirling questions and mysteries, I knew that the thing that mattered most was that he should be really mellow with people. That he isn't totally freaked by them. That he would like kids. And that he wouldn't be a barker, because I do live in an apartment. He sweetly checked off all those boxes and I signed the adoption papers then and there.

 

("do I have to sign anything?") 

 

("do I at least get a treat for being such an adoptable dog?")

 

 

And then I did my grandkid-pick-up routine. First one, briefly at home with his Goose...

 

 

 

...then the other, and both to the Edge.

In the evening, I drove to Chicago -- not my favorite time to drive, but I need to be here tomorrow morning and with the demonstrations and traffic I decided that it was better to drive at night and get here today rather than the risk it and travel tomorrow.

I surprised them with my early (meaning Friday rather than the usual Saturday) arrival! As always, I parked by their home. The traffic wasn't terrible so I got to see the two sweet girls before they zonked out for the night...

 

 

 

 

 

... and I grabbed a quick supper at their place and visited for just a brief while with my daughter before Ubering over to my hotel downtown (the Sofitel)where I landed a fabulous twoffer deal, in a room that I swear is the same as last time, with the same view...

So, it's a busy weekend, agreed?

But I should write a few words still about the nature of this leap into dog ownership. It's not as crazy as it seems. I love having a dog at home (I dont love all strange dogs with their varied personalities, just as I dont love all people with their varied personalities), but a dog always had to take a back seat to everything else that was going on in my life: adolescence, marriage, family, work. Farmhouse cats. I always knew that if I had to live alone, I would be now, in my retirement, tempted to take care of a needy dog. As I told Ed -- we are still together, but I live alone and you dont really like it when I worry about you so now I can worry about the dog instead.

Perhaps that's a simplification of the progression in my thinking, but it is also true that if I am to care for a dog, I cant wait much longer. It wouldn't be fair to the poor pooch. As it is, I hesitated about taking in an animal who requires exercise, because who knows if in ten years I'll be even mobile enough to handle him. But my best guess is that I can do this. Now. When you are a senior, you really do need to make decisions quickly because big-time long-term projects are not going to hang around waiting for you. If you dont lose your memory or your mobility you can still grow just too tired to handle something like... a big dog!

Okay, I need to catch up on sleep. From flowers to Henry. I think it's a good pivot! But now, let's focus on my Chicago trip. With the tall buildings and the awesome girls.

and so much love...