In-Laws vs Out Laws

Grrrrrr. That's all I have to say this morning.

Let me qualify the vehemence of this entry by saying that Amari slept like a baby last night - which is to say that she was up every half an hour crying inconsolably. It was as though a time machine transported us back eleven months, but unlike then her tears fell for pain last night rather starvation. Amari only has two adorable lower teeth so far, but a mouth full of others which seem intent on breaking through in unison. Poor thing.

My grrrrr is not for her.

Carrie and I took turns waking up, trying to soothe her with a bottle, a pacifier, and eventually trips downstairs to the rocking chair. That chair is the most effective thing we have, but it does nothing to help grown-ups sleep. After an hour or so each we'd return to bed only to have the horizontal sleeping position rush blood to Amari's pain-filled head and the tossing and turning and crying would start all over again. At five-thirty this morning, Carrie took Amari downstairs and in her own words, "Watch her play while I stared at her angrily." By the time I got downstairs at seven-thirty both Amari and Carrie looked done.

Moments later, not two sips into my morning cup of coffee, Granny C came in to give us an unsolicited report on the state of her oldest dog who was recovering from being fixed about fifteen years late (I'll explain later). I listened graciously, and when Granny C asked how we were doing I gave her the details of the previous paragraph to which she replied, "Teething shouldn't be hurting her that much."

Now what I should have said was...nothing.

The combination, however, of lack of sleep and knowing it was a question loaded with catastrophic thinking compelled me to blurt out, "What's that supposed to mean? How do you know how much it should hurt? Do you remember teething? Apparently it's the most painful thing we ever experience," I argued - barring her detailed, post-surgical doggy reports I omitted.

Granny C and I practically share an April birthday, so we do lock horns from time to time but we see eye-to-eye just as often. I just need to remind myself (and her) that - although I find it hard to believe - the way Carrie and I feel about Amari is the way she feels about her dogs. For example, three nights ago Granny C came over in tears because she thought Annie (her eldest rescue dog) was dying. Although Carrie and I were both rolling our eyes on the inside, I didn't hesitate to rush Annie to an emergency vet visit where she was diagnosed with an infection of her girl parts. Two days and two thousand dollars later Annie was basically fixed - just fifteen years later than she should have been.

Would Carrie and I do that for our cats? No chance. We have a New Parts New Cat policy, so we'd let them go and get a new one. Careless? Perhaps, but let's keep our priorities straight. Would I rush Amari to the ER for an uncomfortable looking ingrown toenail? Absolutely, so I understood where G.C. was coming from and was happy to help.

When I finally went to apologize later that day, Granny C was ready to do the same. The nice thing about both of us is that we love each others "kids," too and we don't hold grudges.

I've gotten behind once again, but I did manage to put together a nice year in review video of Amari. What an amazing year. And it keeps getting better...and harder...and cooler...and harder...and...and...and...

http://www.vimeo.com/16641505

The End