July 25, 2008

We saw the doctor again today. All he could really do was refer us to another hospital and say “good luck”. Ha, thanks, buddy. I’m sure that’ll help a lot.

So after we got home from the other hospital, mom said I needed to get some rest. But I’ve lost almost all of my respect for her. The fight yesterday really defined what she thought of me. I always knew I wasn’t her favorite or whatever. Really, I’m sure she’d prefer having Cam and Ellie over Jeremy or I any day.


Our dad was a regular kind of guy, I guess. But he walked out after Ellie was born when I was five. The only memory I have of him is when I went to the park and he almost catapulted me right off the see-saw. It was the funnest thing next to Saturday-morning cartoons at that age.

But, really, that’s the only thing. Some kids would become bitter after a parent leaves them or they would want to meet them or give them a piece of their mind. I’d rather not do anything. My way of looking at it is that God put him in my life for such a short amount of time so I’d learn something from him. (Maybe how to not catapult little kids from see-saws?)

Seriously though, things—and people—happen for a reason. I guess the saying “life happens” is true, though I’d rather admit it wasn’t. (That saying has always bugged me, even though it’s now truer than ever.)


Okay, that was a bit off topic. So after mom told me to get some rest, I left the house without telling her where I was going. I just don’t feel like I have to listen to her anymore, I guess. And I took the dogs for a walk. They haven’t been out for a while, besides to go to the bathroom in the field just past our house.

We ended up passing the soccer field on the way home and I couldn’t resist. I tied the dogs’ leashes to a park bench and called Brad and Eliot on my cell phone to come play soccer with me. We used to be on a league in junior high, but it died after we got into high school because most of the guys became “too cool” or whatever.

When they showed up a little while later, I realized that I’d forgotten to tell then to bring a ball. All I could say was “my bad.” Brad nearly slugged me in the shoulder, but Eliot got this crazy grin on his face and backed slipped his hand out from behind his back.

“Hey, Jove.” The grin grew larger as he spoke.

“Do I even want to know?”

Brad glanced between the two of us, then at the little dachshund sitting at his feet and wagging his tail like a nut. He raised an eyebrow at the pup and chuckled. “This little guy a new one?”

But I wasn’t about to be distracted. “Eliot! What is it?”

His grin burst into laughter and he pointed behind him breathlessly. “See for yourself,” he gasped between breaths.

I looked back and saw . . . nothing. But that was it, wasn’t it? Nothing?

Then I suddenly realized what he was talking about. “Holy crap, Eliot!” He’d let the other two dogs loose while Brad and I weren’t paying attention.

“You’d better not lose them, jerkface!” I vaulted over the bench and tore across the lawn toward the dogs’ escape route.

All I could hear behind me was the sound of Eliot and Brad’s laughter.


It sent a pang down my spine when I finally got back home and had all the dogs back where they belonged.

What am I supposed to tell everyone else?