The hardest part

Things have been tough, it's true, but I think that with all this transition that we have been going through we have really gained a lot of perspective as well as insight to where we want to go from here. We now know that we can survive moving with a one year old, and we can make the best of what may seem like a bad situation. We also have come to recognize the value of simplicity in our life and in the road to reaching that conclusion we stumbled upon a decision we have been tripping over throughout this whole process. The animals are going, to better homes and more attention we hope. Right now the cats are staying with BL's sister and the dogs are with his parents, but in the long run we have come to the realization that we just can't continue down this road with them in tow. This was a very hard decision, one that I think we had an answer to all along- we just really didn't want to believe it.

I remember several years ago, back in our child-free days, we were roaming through the adoption center of a local pet store. BL and I would do this sometimes because we are both animal lovers at heart and neither of us can resist a sweet furry face in need of a home. Now you can see how we ended up with two cats and two dogs in the first place. Anyways, the animals up for adoption often had little anecdotes from their previous owners explaining their disposition, likes and dislikes, etcetera. One kitty we came across had a story stating that she came from a loving family who had to give her up because she just didn't get along with baby. I thought this was so sad at the time, quietly vowing that I would never feel this way. I thought you simply had to try harder, that it was always possible to make things work with the two if you just tried. Ha, judge not lest ye be judged I now know. We have tried, we really have. This time and this place in our lives is just not right for us being pet-owners. Though things will become more settled as we move forward and find our own place, in another way things are only going to grow more complicated. Both BL and I will then be out of the house all day with work, our free time will become even more precious, and eventually we will muck it all up with more kids. All this adds up to even less attention and time devoted to the animals, and they already don't get enough.

So this weekend we are going to take them to the local humane society. We are going to make sure that where they are placed doesn't exercise euthanizing, fortunately being back in the Portland area ensures the prevalence of more animal friendly policies. Our goal is adoption here, not destruction. Please think good thoughts for our kitties and dogs.