We walked in the door, Eddie was thrilled. We told him at home that he was going to Dog Pawz. In the car, the excitement level was in the red…’Hell yes, we’re going to Dog Pawz today!’
He knew where he was going.
Eddie was sniffing everything, jumping up to look over the counter to see if he recognized any of the people working today. No one was behind the counter but there were so many smells and sounds that it didn’t really matter.
“And who is this guy?”
“This is Eddie”
“And whats the last name?”
That’s odd, they’ve never asked for a last name before.
“uhh, Starkweather”
“Ohh, did you make a reservation?”
Why the hell would I make a reservation, you guys have told me in the past, I didn’t need a reservation for day care.
“uhh, no”
“We’re actually full. Today we are only accepting reservations”
“What?!”
Confusion.
Rage.
Disappointment.
We had to leave. He is still so excited, still sniffing everything in sight, whining with excitement…’this is the best place ever, thanks for bringing me today dad!’ is all I could hear coming from him. And then we walked out the door, back to the car.
More Confusion, this time from Eddie.
Normally, an open car door is an invitation for fun. This time he didn’t budge, he just looked up at me not quite understanding why we’re outside while all the fun in right in through that door a few feet away. We were just in there. What is happening?
“Come on Ed, jump up”
“Eddie, come on”
The excitement was gone.
As I drove the half hour back home, all I could think about was how disappointing this must be for Ed. Think of it like asking you’re child if they want to go get an ice cream cone.
“Really!?!”
“Yea, come on let’s go it’ll be fun”
“Yeaaaaaa! Thanks Dad, your the best!”
“What are you going to get?”
“I don’t know, I’m so excited I can’t decide…maybe chocolate, no cookies and cream, ooohhh ooohhh, chocolate and peanut butter!”
“Can I get toppings too?
“Of course, you can get anything you’d like. You’ve earned it”
“Oh boy oh boy oh boy!”
“Ok, pick out what you want”
“I want that one!”
“Good choice, that looks delicious”
“Can we get one of those and some extra sprinkles, thanks”
The store owner scoops out two huge scoops of ice cream and drowns them in sprinkles. Then right as your kids eyes are about to bug out of his head and steam is literally pouring from his ears…
“Psyche. Get back in the car squirt, that back yard isn’t going to cut itself you know.”
That’s pretty much how I felt. Thanks to Dog Pawz for not making me make a reservation every time I want to bring my first born in for doggy day care, EXCEPT for that one day when I really did want to bring him in and all of a sudden its reservation only…thanks, that was great.
My 
I’m sitting here watching the Tour de France as I’ve done for the last couple years. This is actually one of my favorite time of year. The Tour is extremely exciting to watch and its even more fun to get on your bike and tear up the streets of your local town imagining you’re whipping through France.
