Playing Favorites!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My daughter is at it again.  She seems to never miss an opportunity to tell people that I prefer Fudge and Vern over my own kids.  At Thanksgiving, she launched into a story about the Doodle Christmas card and can’t seem to let it go that I said ONE time I needed a family portrait done with just John, Fudge, Vern, and me.   The thing is I get no credit for handling this sticky situation with grace and finesse and it wasn’t like I screamed for her to get out of the picture.  I simply said, “Ok, for these family portraits, we are going to need you to step out of the frame and take the picture.”  She doesn’t give any of these details in the retelling of this story, but simply says her mother wanted a Christmas picture done with just the dogs.   When you hear her tell her version, it sounds like I shoved her out of the picture at the last minute and screamed, “Smile, Hayley just lost her footing.”

If that isn’t bad enough, she also loves to tell everyone that she has very few pictures of her childhood because I didn’t take any photos, but now I have a fancy camera and take a million of Fudge and Vern.  When I tell her there was no way her sister and she would ever have chased a tennis ball and brought it back to me in their mouths so I could get a good picture, she brings up stuff about graduations, birthdays, and school events.  I tell her all the time that I didn’t need any photos of those things because I remember it so clearly and I would be happy to draw her a picture from my memory, but she never likes the stick figures I come up with in my illustrations.  I mean, chriminy Christmas, what more can I do? 

Megan is just as bad.  If she calls me when I am out walking the dogs and I tell her I have to call her back, she always asks, “Who is more important? Your dogs or your daughter?”  I guess a couple of times I took too long to answer the question and that landed me in hot water.  Once, I said, “I plead the Fifth,” and she said back that sometimes she thinks I drink a Fifth because a person in their right mind would know the right answer to that question.  When I said I had to go because Fudge and Vern wanted me off the phone, because they like when both my hands are free so I can point out interesting stuff to them on our walks, she started reminiscing about the time I escorted her on her class trip to Annapolis.  Apparently, we were supposed to visit ten interesting landmarks during the day, but I determined all that “learning” stuff sounded pretty boring and we would visit one in case we were quizzed later and then go shopping.   I can’t be sure, because I didn’t take any pictures, but I just bet I pointed out great stuff to her all day, too.

Look over there, Megan. I see two boats.

The funny thing is I can sort of sympathize with my girls, because at times I am sure John prefers Fudge and Vern to me.  He won’t come right out and admit it, because I can hold a grudge longer than those two and be far more vocal, but I have seen the signs. He calls Fudge and Vern right up on his recliner with him to snuggle and the few times I have said, “move over, I’m climbing in that chair with you,” he starts protecting his body parts and grunts and groans and once his face turned really red and it seemed like he was gasping for air.  I have seen the movie Titanic and I have visions of how that would play out in real life if our Pontoon capsized and John had to make some hard choices.  In the movie, it was women and children saved first, but I fear it would be Fudge and Vern first and he would send me into the water with an emergency whistle and the anchor and the parting words to “hold on tightly and keep blowing until help arrives.”  He will let Fudge and Vern up on the bed with us and sleep with his feet hanging off the bed so they have more room, but if I put my cold hands or feet on him in bed he screams like a little girl and begs me to move over. 

By the time we got Fudge and Vern, I was older and wiser, but when I tell this to my kids they always laugh at the wiser part. In fact, when I told one of them that with age came wisdom, someone said I must be a lot younger than I look. Is it any wonder with all these one-line zingers flying around that I sometimes prefer the company of two dogs who think I am pretty great?  Just don’t tell my kids I said that, or I will never hear the end of it.  

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good thing neither if your girls can read : ) i am more open than you. Life really is better with dogs. They are always happy to see me, they listen some of the time and they never talk back--well not often anyway, Luca has been known to make his opinions known when he disagrees. I could go on and on, they appreciate my cooking, think a walk is a great adventure....... Truly no human equals a dog : )

[Bonnie and Kona]

Tell your girls that your wonderful dogs demonstrate unconditional love and when they can do that you will happily take their pictures with a ball in their mouths. It's really pretty simple. Besides I bet they would both have a fit if you tried taking their picture as many times a day as you photograph the doodles. Do they have a calendar competition? See there are lots of reasons you have more pictures of the dogs. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Uh, we didn't have a good camera in the old days either - at least that is my story when the kids complain that I have taken tons of pics of the dogs.  I remind them that we did take pictures of their special events like our oldest son's pre-school graduation - we took tons of pics.  It was too bad that there was no film in the camera, but, hey, you win some, you lose some.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL, Laurie, another great blog. My kids know that JD is my favorite child, but truth be told, I think they prefer him to me, too, so we're even! 

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Great blog Laurie!  Our five are livid because Libby sleeps in our bed.   They were never allowed to sleep in our bed and they do NOT let us forget it now!!  What can I say?????