A VERY Important Lesson!!

Do not ever think you have even a second to hop out your little personal door before your mom leaves the house. Nope. I learned the hard way yesterday.

I'm having my late early-morning nap and Mom says "See you later...I'm going to breakfast with Margie!". Hmmmmm? Oh...ok...bye (I say), and as she's walking downstairs I think "It's now or never". So I race down the stairs and hop out my little door, sniff and squat, and.....uh oh! Is that the sound of a slider being closed? I freeze...and I listen.

Mom yells up the stairs "I'll be back in a couple of hours!", and I'm saying NO NO NO NO NO...I'm not UP there! I hear the garage door open, and the car starts up. Can this be true? She backs out and closes the garage, and I hear her drive away.

Well, Doggie-doo!! It's cold and wet and lonely out here. I entertain myself by making some mud pies and sticking my nose under the fence. Can't see much that way, so I go back and sit in what little sunshine there is. And I cry. (sniffle....waaaah!) I am alone...abandoned.....I shall probably starve and wither away into nothingness. I lay down on the wet lawn and sob for a bit.

Hello? What's that I hear? The gate is opening? Ohhhhhhhhhhh....it's Adan, our gardener. I'm so happy to see him. I usually give him a few barks, but today I just run up to him and sniffle and sob. "M...m....Mom L...L...LEFT m...m..eeee!", I say. He lets me watch while he mows and stuff.

He hangs with me for a while and holds me at arm's length. Like maybe he's never seen a wet puppy before? Ok....granted, there was a bit of mud and maybe a couple of dead yard bugs on me, but geez. Not like he doesn't see that stuff all day.

"Mary-Margaret? Where ARE you?". Finally, after a gazillion hours, I hear a familiar voice inside my house. HAH. She's starting to worry about me. She can't find me any place. "Shhhh!", I tell Adan. "Let her suffer a bit!". Ah. She spots Adan out back and asks if he's seen me. He starts laughing and I absolutely LEAP out of his arms and run into the house. "Mom..Mom...Mom!", I say. "Don't ever leave me like that again!". She laughs and cuddles me (again at arm's length while she dries me off with a dish towel). "I'm SOOOOOO sorry. Poor Mary-Margaret!", and this time she just wraps her arms around me and gives me the biggest kiss ever.

I think she's learned to check my whereabouts before she leaves. I think I've learned to forego the lawn in exchange for piddle pads if she's about to go someplace. And we've both learned how much we love each other. Yup. Better to be safe than soggy, I always say.

Love,

Mary-Margaret "Soggy Doggy" O'Brien