Losing Chien was much harder than I ever expected it to be and there were small and simple things every day that made me miss him. Our house seemed so quiet and lonely without him. He was such a huge part of our lives in ways we didn't even notice until he was gone. One example is that he always slept either in Ben's room or in our room on my side of the bed. One of the first things I noticed after he died was that I get out of bed every morning in such a way so as to avoid stepping on him. I never even realized I did this, until the first morning after he died and I slowly put one leg down very close to the bed and the other leg way out far from the bed (as if I was stepping over him). It was habit to get out of bed that way, and I never even knew I was in that habit until he was gone. That is just one example of many of ways that I missed him every day.
Also, while I did have to vacuum less (and I enjoyed that aspect), our kitchen floor was a disaster! I think I severely underestimated the amount of food Chien ate from under our table. And I severely overestimated the neat eating skills of my children!
So, anyway, I was on the hunt to find us a puppy. And we had some ups and downs along the way. We had a puppy that we were days away from getting only to learn she had gotten sick and wouldn't be able to come home for another month or so (we backed out of buying that puppy). And I learned a ton about breeders, certifications, and the entire process through a lot of help from Josh, Aunt Theresa's boyfriend. Josh, I doubt you read my blog, but hopefully Aunt Theresa will pass along the message that I truly appreciated all the help you gave me in finding a puppy. I would send him websites and he would let me know what he thought about that breeder. His points were excellent and I learned a lot from him, so thank you Josh.
Long story short, I finally found a puppy that was perfect for our family. We wanted a female this time around just to try something different. I found one that all the heart, hip, eye and elbow certifications and what sold me on her, was that she has a small cowlick on her nose! I loved that because Chien had a cowlick on top of his head and plus it makes her different (and makes her ours). Unfortunately she was located in central Michigan. So, we loaded up everyone into the car and left for Michigan after Ben got out of school on Friday. We debated about whether or not to bring the whole family, but I am so glad we did because the kids loved it and I think they will always remember going to get our puppy. Here they are meeting her for the first time.
Isn't she cute?
