Soon perhaps, a new dog

Approved Tuesday after our home visit by a volunteer from the Midwest Labrador Retriever Rescue people for adoption! My husband thinks that the deal was clinched when the rep's dog gave him a big lick on the face; apparently, he (the dog) is not big on kissing people he doesn't know.

Very nice to have a dog in the house again, even if he was just visiting. At first look, he seemed to be a chocolate Lab. But the longer he patiently hung out, lying down in the midst of the room, serenely inspecting his surroundings with that particular head-tilt that Labs have (as if to say, I am observing my domain and will not be disturbed by any unnecessary distractions, even the sound of the cat in the basement, plaintively protesting her imprisonment), the more I could see something else in him. His eyes were a beautiful light green, there was something stockier about his jaw line, and his tail, which started out as a conventional Lab otter tail, suddenly blossomed out into a bottle-brushy tail.

Now, we're waiting for the phone call to bring our own dog home. If adopting a dog is this multi-layered, I cannot imagine what the experience of adopting a child must be like.