your love is my drug

This just in:
Wet-nosed dog nuzzles and the "harummmphhh" of a furry little head nestling onto your leg are as effective as prescription anti-depressants. * (Ok, that may be overstating it a bit, but there is some research to support the idea that pets can ease depression symptoms and depressive behaviors and have a positive impact on overall health).

Which is a good thing, because Auggie and I are both feeling a bit mopey again now that Yale is back in the Quad Cities.

Vet visit on Friday went very well, and AugDog was a superchamp all day on Friday and Saturday. Looked better, ate better, was calmer and more kissyfaced than he had been in a long time. We should get the results of the blood work today and make a plan for what's next for his seizure treatment.

Then Yale came home on Saturday evening, and Auggie was beside himself with glee. It was lots of fun to have our little family together again for about 30 hours this weekend. Auggie was eating and playing and romping and silly and delightful. And then Yale left last night, and the droop came back, the slight look of "WHY has my person left again?" He slept on the floor in front of the door again, waiting for Yale to return and protecting me from would-be intruders. At dawn I guess he decided that he had fulfilled his guard dog duties, and jumped up into bed with me until my alarm went off.

30 hours of bliss this weekend - my hubs and our pup together again for a little while.

It was very strange to sit next to Yale and Auggie on the couch on Sunday afternoon, he and I reading and Auggie nestled next to us. It felt like a family. Like a surge of happiness and peace that I don't think I have felt in quite that way ever before. Twinged with the sadness that Yale was about to get back into the car for another week of Quad Cities life. But sparkly and complete in a different way too. Loving Yale, and being in love with him, and liking him so damn much. That is a real and incredible blessing. And adding AugDog into our life, this precious little furball that is our responsibility and our shared love, is a strange and beautiful new layer.

And for all of you who may be placing odds sometime soon, it is fair to say that we have talked quite a bit more about a "some day family" in the past 3 weeks than I ever EVER thought we would.

But for now, I am perfectly content with a mess-making little canine boy. Just when you think your heart is full, along comes this new thing that just tears the walls right off.