Now mind you, I had only asked for a dog every single day of my existence from the age of 6 to about 16...did I get a dog?? Nooooooooo. I suggested they get one when I left for college, did they get a dog? Nooooooo. My parents began dog sitting for a Bichon Frise, and had slowly warmed up to the idea of a dog. The dog would come and stay for a few nights, was well behaved, potty trained, and that started the wheels turning that maybe a little furry companion wouldn't be such a bad idea. Of course, they said that and then didn't do anything about it for like 4 years. Mom was throwing her lunch tray away in the cafeteria one January day, when she saw the pictures of the litter of Bichon Frise puppies on the bulletin board at work. She came home and mentioned it to dad, as the puppies would be ready for pick up around Valentines day. Dad didn't think much about the idea, but when I called home one night to talk with them, mom was going on and on about how cute they were. I encouraged them to just go look. She made a call to the nurse at the clinic that was selling them, and got some details. Again, mentioned it to dad, and again, he didn't say too much. I pushed a little more, and when there were only 2 puppies left in the litter my parents decided they would just 'go look' at them.
On the weekend I knew they were going to go look at the puppies, I decided I needed to go to their house and go with them to look the dogs because clearly this was going to be entertainment. We rolled onto a sprawling farm, and as we walked to the door I could hear the excited puppies pawing at the door. Mom's friend that was selling the puppies opened the door and out came two white balls of fur. We got them back inside and sat down to scope the pups out. There was a boy pup and girl pup left. My parents knew they wanted the boy IF they were to get one at all. I sat on the floor living my childhood dream of getting to pick out a puppy. Even if I was 25... The puppies chased each other around, climbed up in my lap, played on the floor. I was sold. I was too scared to look at my parents though, fearing they would not be. Now, it was Mom's idea to come and look at the dogs, and suddenly, it's like the reality of it sank in, and she wasn't as in love as I thought she was going to be. Then the boy pup wandered over to dad, circled around his legs and dad picked him up. There this big man was, holding this little 6lb ball of white fur with apricot ears, and little pink tongue poking out, he cuddled right into dad...In the next breath I heard dad say, "How much for the male pup?" And reached for his check book. They waited a week to pick him back up as they wanted to prepare the house for the puppy.
The dog was given a distinguished name: Einstein Patrick Radke. Einstein, as clearly he was the smartest puppy in the world. Patrick, because they picked him up on St. Patrick's Day. He is a pure bred Bichon Frise, and from that day forward my parents lives changed, just like when they brought me home from the hospital.
Those of you that knew my mother, know that she was ANAL about how she kept her house. Einstein was in the house about 20 minutes the first time he peed on the carpet, about an hour before he pooped, and about 3 days before he barfed everywhere. The first 2 weeks they had little sleep, lots of potty training, lots of discussions on not chewing on things around the house, and at one point I think my mom was crying thinking that her house was going down the shitter. He took to potty training quickly though, and soon the fun began. Which is also when I started getting daily email updates from mom that went like this: "Morning Meg! Einstein was such a big boy last night, he slept the whole night through in his kennel, woke up and went out side and did a pee and BIG poo! He's such a little cuddle bug." The majority of my emails and phone calls from that point forward was an Einstein story. A conversation that actually happened while on the phone, now mind you, mom would talk to the dog, like he was a real person that understood what she was saying...
Me: Hey, thought I would call and see how you guys are.
Mom: Oh, we're just sitting here watching the game.
Me: You got dad to watch the Twins game?
Mom: No! Me and Einstein!
Me: Oh..Einstein likes baseball?
Mom: LOVES IT! He likes Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau the best.
Me: Sure he does...So I was going to ask you about.........
Mom: (Cutting in, talking to the dog) EINSTEIN! What did Mommy say?! Einie?! Mommy said do not chew on cord to the lamp. Remember what I said? I said that you can electrocute yourself, remember?! (She then proceeds to make a fake electrocuting noise.) Now, that's right, come back here to the love seat and sit by me...Good boy. Now what were you saying Meg?
Around this time I also got a new name. I was no longer Megan in the eyes of my parents, I was 'Sissy.' They said that Einstein was my brother, and that I was his sister...Rarely did they call me Megs, Meg, or Megan from that point on. My brother, born from a K-9 mother, was now in my parents world, my biological brother. There was no use fighting it. I just smiled and nodded, and knew that, that little fluff butt was making them happy and keeping them on their toes. He is the only brother I will ever have...and he was pretty damn cute.
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