Meanwhile, on one of James’ business trips to Nashville, Susan, a paralegal he works with out there, mentioned to him that she had a rescue lab that needed a good home. James casually mentioned this to me and I quickly shot him down – remember all that dog hair.
A month or so later on another trip to Nashville, Susan brought Hannah (her name then) to meet James. Susan knew what she was doing, because Hannah melted his heart. He took the picture of her below. It took James a few days after his return to bring her up to me. He couldn’t get over how sweet and gentle she was. He assured me she was so calm. I shot him down once again. Don’t forget the dog hair! James sweetly accepted this and moved on.
All this took place in January right before James’ birthday. One night the thought hit me of what an awesome surprise it would be for him to get Hannah for his birthday. But, no way, I was not ready for that. A big ole lab chewing things up, scratching the floors, tracking in pluff mud. And have I mentioned how bad the dog hair is? Even with all those thoughts, I couldn’t stop thinking how excited James would be.
One morning, I stopped debating, snooped around and found Susan’s e-mail and told her we would take the dog. She instantly called me and was thrilled. She assured me that Hannah was the sweetest lab she had ever fostered. From there, we began brainstorming the surprise. I had to keep this secret for THREE weeks and let me tell you, we saw more yellow labs in that three weeks than ever before.
Susan and I schemed and plotted and made plans to meet up in Asheville. We already had a trip planned to visit Tripp and Angie in early February. Poor James. He called Susan to tell her we would not be taking Hanna. I think he still had hopes of changing my mind, but Susan told him she had already found a good home for Hannah. We both hated the disappointment we saw in him, but knew it would be worth it to see the surprise on his face.
And was it ever worth it. When the morning FINALLY arrived it took a lot of last minute whispers and texts between me, Angie, Tripp, and Susan, but we did it. The look on his face was absolutely priceless. The girls were completely thrilled.
I can’t remember why Sarah Ellen was upset here, but you know, she is Sarah Ellen.
It didn’t take her long to figure out who her master was. She followed James everywhere. She was pretty skittish at first, especially of children, but warmed up quickly.
Susan was right, she is so gentle, calm and sweet. She also is the perfect size, weighing around 60 pounds.
After living with her for awhile, we decided that she just wasn’t a Hannah and changed her named to Daisy. She has melted all her hearts. Lily will lay with her and rub her for the longest time. She follows me all over the house. Daisy still isn’t so sure of unpredictable Sarah Ellen, but tolerates her well enough. She runs out to go potty and runs back in so no worries of having to get a fence. She truly is the perfect dog for our family and we are blessed to have her.
Oh and about the dog hair – I got me a little buddy to help out with that. Meet Roby – our little vacuuming robot.
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