Bringing Puppy Home

Well folks, it is 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday. This must mean only one thing: Little Jack is now home! What a trip that was! Even though it was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, I hope to never, ever do that again. God really wanted to make me work for this dog, and boy, did he ever.

I started the trip out super nervous, mostly because I was afraid of what was to come and I felt so bad for my puppy, sitting in a tiny carrier for 300 miles. Oh, and the fact that Atlanta is gigantic and I was driving through Friday afternoon insanity. Anyways, I made it through Atlanta fine, the AC was working (THANK YOU!) and I even felt good enough that a stop at the Alabama info rest area was not needed. Home free!

Not quite. I don't quite remember where the construction started, but I do know that was east of Birmingham and lasted FOR EVER. The entire state of Alabama is apparently under construction. Anyways, on the 4 lane divided freeway, it dropped down to one lane. I will never understand why they felt this was necessary during Friday afternoon rush hour, but whatever. There were miles and miles of cars backed up and at times we were just sitting there, on the asphalt in 94 degree Alabama heat. Yay. And I had to pee. And no exit in sight. As it turns out, it was prematurely becoming one lane. About a half mile before the actual lane closure, a semi truck had flipped onto it's side which brought the cars to one lane, too. . Once I passed that, I calmed down a lot. No matter the stress I was under- and my dog wasn't even making a noise!- that driver and his companies definitely had it a lot worse than I did at the moment. I pulled over at the nearest exit to use the restroom and then we were off again.

I got off about 40 miles after that to fill up at my usual place and take the dog out. As it turns out he needed to both potty and poo, so that was a great spot. He likes to follow me around and stay by myself. After filling up and letting Little Jack romp around for a bit, it was back in the carrier for him and onward.

I made it through Birmingham without any problems, then about 15 miles east of Tuscaloosa I stopped at a rest area to let Jack out again. He LOVED it. He ran around around with me, went potty, and just followed me around. Then it was homeward bound: only about an hour left of the trip!

West of Tuscaloosa, I wanted to really keep going, that there was this awesome obstacle in my way: scattered rain. And when I say rain, I don't mean Seattle like steady rain. I mean the skies opened up and the angels are spraying each other with fire hoses. I have never seen that much rain fall from the sky before. It was insane. I hate driving in rain, and I absolutely loathe driving in that downpour. Hydroplaning is now something I am very familiar with and understand how it feels, because I was sure doing a lot of that. Even after slowing down. The drivers here do not hesitate to slow down in torrential downpour which I commend and love. (Now I just need them to speed up during Seattle-like rain, you don't have to slow 20 below for that). Everyone gave everyone space (ok, all 3 of us, but hey, it's a small town) and kept the same speed.

And then it was home! This whole trip, Jack didn't make a single noise- I could not have asked for a better puppy. In fact, he only made noise when we put him down for the night. It lasted about 10 minutes, but he eventually calmed down. I did have to put an oscillating fan on him in the middle of the night, we were really hot and he was panting really hard. After I did that, though, I think he was able to sleep soundly because I didn't hear him panting so hard.

That trip certainly tested me. Many times I had to hold back tears and breath slowly to calm myself and tell myself over and over "you're ok, you're ok, you're ok." Talking to Jack helped, but at the same time I felt foolish. I hated everything about that trip except my puppy. He's such a good puppy.

And now he's up at 5 am. Georgia is an hour ahead, so considering he didn't wake up until 6 am his time, I'd say that's awesome. And after watching the guy pee his guts out when I took him out, I'm surprised he didn't start whining earlier than that, really. So this is my life now, up at 5 am and taking a puppy out to pee after not sleeping at all. Such is life. But now, I don't think I would change this at all. Every time he looks at me with that adorable little face, my heart melts.

Welcome home, Jack!