Stage Fright, and some Sad News...

Do dogs get stage fright? I'd have never thought so...until this evening. Kona and I, along with four other Love on a Leash teams from my chapter did a presentation to a class of Master Psychology Students at Brandman/Chapman University. We got in front of the students, introduced ourselves and our 4-legged companions and started talking about the benefits of pet provided therapy.

And then he puked.

Right there, in front of everybody....my boy hurled.

He hadn't even had dinner, so Lord only knows where he conjured up whatever it was he hacked up, but let me tell you, it was nasty!

I was mortified. It reminded me of the time he pooped in the hospital as we ran desperately for the door and didn't make it on time....yup... fun times, fun times. (If you've missed that FUN story, just tell me and I'll point you to that post!)

I cleaned up the mess as quickly and efficiently as I possibly could with what I had to work with (Thank you Tom for your handkerchief!) and got "rid" of the evidence.

We tried to make light of the situation..."dogs are dogs...you never know what they'll do" (insert nervous laughter here) and we went on with the chit chat.

After a few nice stories about the wonders of pets pet therapy...the unconditional love the animals offer, etc...he started retching again. This time we flew out the door and made it outside just in time - thank goodness! Sure enough, he let loose twice more, and then the other end started up! What the heck? I gave him ample time to finish his business... cleaned up as much as I possibly could, made it back into the classroom long enough to gather my belongings, and excused myself.

We were outta there! Sometimes you just don't want to push your luck any further.

On the way home I called to check in with my folks and got some very sad news. My Dad lost his last remaining sibling today, my Aunt Evelyn. She had a very long, full life, and celebrated her 100th birthday this past November. It had been a few years since I'd seen her (she'd moved to the East Coast a while back), but I had spent some quality time with her in my youth and have some very fond memories of visiting with her and my cousins when they lived in Los Angeles. This is one of my favorite pictures of my Dad (far right), his brother Jerry, and my Aunt Eve. This was taken at my Dad's 75th birthday celebration in March of 2004, and we lost Uncle Jerry just 7 months later. I hope you rest in peace Aunt Eve. I will miss you.

xoxoxo,

Susie