Awful Arthur

This is only a month and a half late… What you are about to read was typed in the car… I delayed posting as we recovered from the ride and celebrated the 4th…and then delayed some more just for good measure…
 So here you have it… Thoughts from our OBX vacation that ended early thanks to Hurricane Arthur.

It's 1:30 am Wednesday night/Thursday morning... I'm sitting in the passenger seat of a very loaded down Jeep... In tears as my week long vacation is ending 3 days early... 

Hatteras Island faces a mandatory evacuation 5am Thursday... Ummm- I LOVE OBX but I have a strong dislike for lots of traffic AND for being forced to take the long way... Matt's dislike for those things is even more intense than mine... And so we packed and left...

And like any 31 year old- I cried... 

This was an AWESOME vacation... Some very much needed reconnection time with the man I love... The calm before we begin our fertility treatment journey... 

The OBX has always been our place- it was our first real vacation together and a place we have visited every year... Where we went on our honeymoon, and where we went after we lost TJ... It's just been out retreat from life- we love the slow pace, lack of "busy" things to do, and daily trips to the beach or sound... Not to mention its DOG FRIENDLY- Dutchess used to vacation with us!  

This year was Clara's first trip... This year should have been TJ's first trip… 

I was so busy enjoying the trip that my photos are limited… but here are a few...

We had fun taking Clara to bounce at the ocean!

We listened to Sundays message from LCBC while sitting on the beach (2 votes from the Dietrich's for a LCBC-OBX campus!)

We made a sand castle for TJ.

 

We rode wave runners! (Checked one off the bucket list!)

We spent hours floating over waves and sitting under the umbrella... Just relaxing- loving life!

We hit up our "must" stops- Howard's Pub & the Slushie Stand on Ocracoke (yay ferry ride), Top Dog, Village Conery (Clara walked there with us and had her first soft serve ice cream experience), and our last meal was crabs from Austin's South Island Seafood.  It was good eating!  

We broke in our new kicks.

OBX 2014 was all lined up to be an amazing vacation.

Until it was time to leave... Suddenly my heart felt heavy- like I was leaving without a goodbye- only what adult needs to say goodbye to the beach?!?  

Then I remembered I had wanted to write in the sand... 

All week my heart had been full, peaceful as I soaked up the beauty of God's creation. And then as I faced leaving it I felt a separation coming... 

I recognized that heavy heart- it had been hiding for a while... Always there but kindly keeping to its self UNTIL NOW- 7pm as we pack to evacuate and end our vacay.  Hello the heart if a grieving mother... There is not a moment that I don't miss my sweet angel, but this was intense!

I woke Matt from his nap, leashed up Clara and headed to the beach...  This needed to happen

But first we found TJs sandcastle, in decent shape considering we had built it 10 hours prior.

It was perfect to see- but started the waterworks.  We sat in the sand and talked about missing our boy... About how the beach seems to calm our hurting hearts... About how we weren't ready to leave- but were actually excited to have a nice house to go home to…

It was just a rough night... Even now- my heart has me wanting to just sob... The ugly cry- the cry from deep down that you save for the biggest of hurt... 

The beach should have been so different... Life should be so different... Most days I do ok with the fact that it's not... Today wasn't one of those days... 

Maybe tomorrow will be better... 

And if you are reading this- it means we have arrived safely home and are hopefully sound asleep.

Meet Clara

Last week I introduced you to Dutchess.  She was our old girl, our unique lab who posed quite a few challenges for us over the years.  Matt and I had discussed on more than one occasion what we would do when Dutchess went to doggie heaven… cause lets face it- the worst part of owning a pet is that they never live as long as we do.  There was no doubt in our minds that we would have another dog, or 2… it was just a matter of how we would go about acquiring said dog(s).

The official decision- we wanted to continue to own a rescue dog AND we wanted to get a puppy. Ideally we would have a black lab and a golden doodle and maybe a few more down the road- because every kid needs to have their own puppy.  

We began our search by going to the SPCA- we visited 2 different locations- where the population of dogs was 90% pit bull.  Our lease does not allow pit bulls so that limited any chance of success.  There was one black lab that we took out to play with- he was nameless… Matt and I have never named a dog.  We were at a loss and decided that after having a Jasmine and a Dutchess the only possible name we could give a male dog was…. Aladdin… sadly "Aladdin" provided a Dutchess-like response to other dogs- a major NO on our list… so we said our goodbye and continued the search.  

We had some very firm in our requirements… MUST be friendly with other dogs, and have hope for being around children….

After this visit we met Clara… she was a love!  We had some thinking to do because she was YELLOW and not dog in need of a new home.  We were really hung up on the rescuing a dog thing so we debated for a few days and had our DC getaway...

We went to a Lab adoption day after our DC trip.  We found Dutchess at a similar event many moons ago… we found several dogs here that were ok- they met our requirements and preferences… black labs, needing to be rescued, good with other dogs, children friendly… we even took one (Tank) for a walk to try and bond with him… he was a great dog but the connection wasn't quite there.  Sure we could have brought him home (same with 2 others) and had a happy life together but it wasn't the perfect match we felt we needed.  All the while Clara was hanging in the back of our minds…

As we drove home it was clear as day- Clara was meant to be our next fur-kid!  (side note- Tank did find his "furever" home)  

Let's talk about Clara… we learned about Clara after I sent a message to my mom's BFF who breeds golden doodles… I asked her to put us on the list for the next litter of doodles… she offered her condolences for Dutchess, assured me I was on the list and then shared about Clara- a sweet yellow lab who she had gotten as a puppy.  She was giving Labradoodles a try and Clara was the lady to produce the pups.  After the first litter she determined that she should stick to golden doodles and that meant Clara was now just one of the gang- no future litters for her… When she learned that we were looking for a new lab- she shared that Clara could use a home that would offer her lots of love, attention and just a bit of spoiling.  WE HAVE THAT!  So we met Clara- loved her… gave finding a dog needing rescued a fair shot… and kept coming back to Clara… Before we headed for Vegas (more on that adventure to come) we made the official decision to give Clara a new home once we got back.  

There was a small part of us that felt guilty for getting a dog that already had a home- Clara wasn't being given away to just anyone- she had a home where she  could have stayed forever… but when our attempts to find the perfect rescue dog were unsuccessful… 

I picked Clara up on Saturday… she fit in right away- tail wagging, sniffing everywhere, giving kisses, asking for belly rubs, playing with toys… it was like she was meant to live with us!

 We took her for a walk and it was a completely different experience from the walks we have had with Dutchess.  No going crazy at other dogs, walking calmly at our side and no need for extra bags!

This sweet girl loves to be my shadow.  She lays in the middle of the kitchen floor while I cook.  She jumps up on the "dog" couch to snuggle (but not the good couch) and she snuggles in bed but jumps down to sleep on the floor.  

The tail is wagging or she is snoring- she's just a happy girl!  She carries around her toys proudly and alerts me if there are any strange people around- including the neighbor getting his mail (yea we are gonna work on that).  We are also working on not wrapping me up with the rope when playing fetch.

She came from a home that had other dogs and kids running around- which means we are looking forward to a new social life that includes puppy play dates and visits to Grandma's and the pool.  

I'm sure there will be many more posts that include Clara in the future cause we just LOVE our new fur kid!