As we watch Lexi grow and learn and do wonderful things in front of us each day, we watch Benji decline, not sleep, bump into things, and basically be old. He is on a new med for dementia. Yes, I guess it happens to dogs too. He doesn't sleep at night. Which means, Jon and I don't sleep at night. We really don't know how much more of his nighttime antics we can take. We try to take turns, but after letting him out, feeding him, getting him water, letting him out 7 more times, giving him our bed and some blankets, he still stands and barks. Then whom ever has been taking care of him usually gives up, and the other person takes over. My new plan of attack is to give him tons of food, let him run outside, and then go to bed earlier so maybe he can't get too wound up. For our sanity's sake, I hope it works. But no matter, we love Benji, and we want to make him the most comfortable that we can for what ever time he has left. When you are 23 years old and you make a quick visit to an animal shelter you don't expect the outcome to impact your life so significantly when you are 37. We've been lucky to have Benji these 14+ years!!!
Then there is Mathilde. I have always thought that it would be easier to have an exchange student stay with us if we didn't like them much. Someone that we would look forward to seeing go home. Well, that is NOT the case with Mathilde. She's managed to become a big part of our lives in only 4 short months. She'll be leaving in one month, and although we'll miss her, we know she's leaving. Lexi won't understand, and I feel the loss of her "Ta" as she is called, will be a difficult experience for our little girl.
I'll have to write more about Lexi once I get more pics uploaded. She is wonderful. What can I say- she's my baby!
-Jenni
