30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 7

Michael isn't going to believe this post.  But I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Mount Horeb as Cooper is getting a shave.  And I decided it was time for me to show some appreciation to the first child in our lives.

Ever since the kids have come Cooper has definitely taken a back seat.  As a mother who is cleaning floors and taking care of kiddos in a house I just get frustrated so often because he is in the way and the SHEDDING.  But as I dropped him off today the woman that cuts his hair says, "He is my favorite lab...there is just something about him."  She's right.

I think Cooper was God's gift to me.  Really he was a wedding gift to my husband because I was not a dog lover...where I grew up they belonged outside.  Cooper was my 'sacrificial' wedding gift to show my husband that I was willing to compromise then and always...but Coop wasn't the typical puppy.  From the moment we got him, he has been what I call, an 'old soul.'  He never went through a spastic puppy age...he did chew some of my shoes...but he exudes calm, peace and sweetness.  Besides his initial excitement when he sees you, he is completely content to cuddle on the floor or lay beside you when your on the couch.  If he can be touching you he's even happier.

And he has so much patient with the kiddos, especially Jackson, who chases him, pulls his tail and I swear torments that poor creature.  But Coop just takes it, almost as if he knows, this is my family-I don't have a choice...I might as well grin and bear it.

I know that I have a short fuse with him...and that his master really is Michael...but I hope he knows that I love him and that God forbid when we don't have him or we face the day we will lose him-I'll be a wreck.  I hate to admit it-but this dog did capture my heart.  And regardless of how frustrated I get with him nowadays-he taught us how to be responsible for a living creature together...and that was incredible preparation for kids.   Even if I don't do a good job showing it-I'm thankful for Cooper.  :)