When I got back from Paducah/Murray Saturday evening I picked the dogs up to give them lovin just like I always do when I’ve just come home. I noticed Aly was acting different right away; She wouldn’t kiss me and was shaking as I pet on her. I put her down, thinking maybe she was mad at me about staying gone. She does that sometimes.

A few minutes later I let the dogs outside to use the bathroom. It’s completely normal for Ben to stay outside longer than Aly (she doesn’t like the cold) but after about 5 minutes I looked at the door only to find Ben standing there waiting to be let in. No Aly. I opened the door to let him inside and called for her. She didn’t come. I stepped out on the back porch to look for her and there she was, standing at the bottom of the steps, shaking. I called her again and she started the pace back and forth but wouldn’t come up the stairs. I finally went down the stairs, picked her up, and carried her up the steps.

I sat down on the couch to start working and she came to the couch and whined at me. I patted the couch cushion, telling her to jump up on the couch, and she wouldn’t. She just continued to whine. I then picked her up and placed her on the couch next to me. I started petting on her and that’s when I figured it out. When I touched her lower back (the beginning of her lumbar vertebrae, for those medically inclined) she yelped and coward-ed. This broke my heart. I knew what was wrong.

Dachshunds have back problems. Their bodies are so long and their legs are so short. Aly is a risk taker for sure. When medium sized dogs are afraid to jump off of something tall Aly is already waiting at the bottom, having already jumped down. She jumps off the top of our back porch on a daily basis. It’s about 4 feet tall and Aly is 4 yr old, 8-9 lbs, and (her head) stands only 6-7 inches tall.

Aly being a dare devil should have only become a problem is she were overweight, which she isn’t. Also, she’s much too young to be experiencing said back problems. I know from research and just hearsay that this problem could sometimes only be fixed by surgery and then, other times even surgery can’t fix it. She could be paralyzed.

All day Sunday Neil and I helped her down the back porch steps and up then again and again. She picked her up and placed her on the couch when she wanted up and put her down on the floor when she wanted down. Monday morning I called the vet and took Aly to her appointment at 3 that afternoon. No x rays were required. He knew what was wrong with her. He felt around on her back and sure enough, she yelped. He checked her hind leg’s reflexes and they weren’t stellar. He did say, however, that the fact that she’s still able to walk is a great thing and she could do just fine on meds. Surgery wasn’t something we should think about at this time.

THANK GOD!

He sent Aly home with three different medications: one that she has to take 3 times a day for 5 days, one that she has to take 3 times a day for 5 days and then once a day for 5 days and then once every other day for 5 days, and one that she has to take 2 times a day for 7 days. All of these meds have to be given to her with applesauce because she’s a pain when it comes to taking pills. If that weren’t enough, she is restricted from activity (jumping, running, etc.) for 3 weeks. Oh boy, this is going to be fun.

When at all possible she’s to stay in her crate. So far that proves to be the easiest task because that’s the only place she wants to be. Neil and I will continue to pick her up and take her wherever she needs to go. I will do whatever it takes to encourage her back to heal and prevent it from ever happening again. No more jumping off the back porch for her!

Today was my second day working at a local drug store and, although I’m still in training, I was on the cash register today several times by myself. I was ready for it though! It sure beats cleaning the bathroom, am I right?

So this woman comes up to the counter holding a can of drink mix/powder she had brought in herself. She starts telling me about this great product and how she usually gets it at another store but wants us to start stocking it here so she doesn’t have to drive the extra 20 miles for it. She sees that we care it in chocolate but she wants vanilla. I tell her I’ll right it down and let our manager know. Woman goes on to tell me that she likes chocolate just fine but since she drinks it every morning she wants a flavor that she LOVES. I tell her I understand. And then she tells me WHY she drinks it every morning: something about appetite suppressant and vitamins. I tell her it sounds like a great product. Woman says she’s 61 years old and doesn’t take any medication and she attributes it to this miracle drink powder. To be polite, I tell her maybe I should try it. Then the following conversation took place:

Woman: Please tell me YOU don’t already take medication?

me: Yes, I do. Only one though.

Woman: Oh? What for?

me: Depression and anxiety. (I’m not modest at these sort of things)

Woman: No! Well, are you Christian?

me: Yes Ma’am.

Woman: Are you sure? Have to been saved?

me: I have. (Methodists don’t really believe in “being saved” but I have been baptized, etc. but I didn’t care to get into that with her)

Woman: Honey, you need to repent and tell Jesus your problems. You need to have a closer relationship with God and his son. If you are a True Christian you will be healed.

me: (at this point I’m just smiling and letting her talk)

Woman: Physical illnesses are apart of aging and your body shutting down. Mental illnesses are the Devil trying to control your mind. Don’t you let him! How often do you read the bible?

me: …

Woman: You need to read it every day of every week of every month, and of every year. Just one day away from The Word will give the Devil just enough wiggle room. Don’t you let him!

Thankfully the phone began to ring so I told her to have a nice day and I answered the call.

This occurrence didn’t and doesn’t bother me really. I know, and God knows, what’s in my heart. I just thought it was funny/interesting and wanted to share.

Yea sure, every wife has been heard saying that she has the best husband in the world at least once in her lifetime and I know I’ve said it more than just a few times. What can I say, I love the guy.

Seriously though, he does the sweetest things and treats me so well that sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve him. What did I do to keep such a catch?

Background story time! When my mom and I were planning my wedding my dad gave us a set amount and whatever we didn’t use Neil and I got to keep. Sweet deal right? So needless to say I cut corners on everything I thought I could with still having a kick ass wedding, the wedding of my dreams. A friend of the family, fellow church member, and seasoned photographer answered one of our prayers when he said he’d love to photograph the wedding free of charge and just give us the disc of the photos and we could print off whatever we wanted. That right there saved us $2,000+ and on top of that a friend and former client of my dad’s offered to pay for the honeymoon. You just gotta love connections! After saving money on the two most expensive items of a wedding we decided that was enough penny pinching and my mom and went back to going all out. FUN!

Being as particular as I am meant that every aspect of my wedding that I had a direct hand in, aka everything, turned out exactly how I imagine it would. Everything was perfect. Except my pictures. I guess my photographer assumed since he wasn’t charging us that he didn’t have to listen to us. He just did whatever the eff he wanted that day and boy does it show. I never cared too much for his work really but thought I could guide him along that day as to what I wanted and things would be dandy. WRONG.

I am a designer. Creative and art inspired. Lover of all things musical and fun. I feel like my wedding pictures should have shown my personality a bit instead of lacking in personality completely.  Yea, yea, yea, I got them for free so I shouldn’t complain. Had I known he wasn’t going to listen to a damn thing I requested/suggested all day long then I would NOT have gone with him, free or not. My mom and I had so many ideas, looked forward to so many great pictures to chose from. I think we liked 3 out of more than 400. I’m not kidding. The pictures you see on this site and on my facebook are all from friends’ cameras.

Two and one half years later and it still upsets me. I don’t have any pictures that I love. LOVE. None of me in my dress, of my dress at all. My beautiful, one of a kind dress. None of me and Neil together that shows how happy we were that day, how much in love we are. Yesterday, as my mom and I were cleaning out my keepsake chest at my parents’ house, I was reminded again how important it is to me that I have those beautiful pictures now and on down the road to remind myself of that day. When I came home last night I whined to Neil about it for like 10 minutes. Sweet boy, he gets points just for staying in the room with me while I complained. But he did more than that.

This afternoon I received this text from him:

Hey babe. How has your day been? Mine? It’s been slow and boring so I got to thinking. That thinking turned into searching and that searching turned into phoning. I thought about what you said last night. You’re unhappy with how our wedding pictures turned out. I can’t say that I see why, you’re beautiful in every one of them, but that’s why I’m me and you’re you. You wanted something more than just pictures, you wanted memories captured. I can’t turn back the clock to 2.5 years ago and punch that dude in the face for not listening to you and taking the pictures you wanted. I can’t fix that for you and I hate that. But I can make hire a better, more “artsy” photographer to take pictures of you in your dress for our anniversary this summer. I can and I did. Since my day has been so slow I searched the internet and found a photographer whose work I think you’ll really like. I called him up and explained the situation and got you an appointment in July. I hope you don’t mind. I just want you to have pictures you love to look at. I’m sorry it took me this long to do it. Happy 3 Year Anniversary….early.

I couldn’t reply right away because I was shocked. He’s never done anything like this before and I’m finally going to have the pictures of my dreams and….I’m just so excited. This is SO important to me and Neil understood that he’s making it right even though he’s not the one who made it wrong. Thank you baby!