Harriet ran away and other little stories

Grandma left and that afternoon, Ryan received a phone call that Harriet ran away. The sprinkler head man accidentally left the side gate open to the back yard and Harriet took advantage of all the new smells and simply followed her nose. Seamus meandered to the front door and sat on our front porch guarding the house.

Therefore, I scrambled from work around 4pm on a Friday to zoom home from work to attempt to find her. I called Thornton Animal Control and they promptly returned my phone call with a “Harriet sighting” northwest of our house in the same neighborhood. After two hours of searching and stopping random people on the streets to ask if they had seen a floppy-eared bloodhound, we had success. She approached a woman walking her greyhound and the woman was able to call Ryan. Harriet was several blocks due south of us which meant she crossed a four lane HUGE road. The next phone call was the worst as the woman was holding onto Harriet and Harriet shrugged out of the collar to run away once again – collarless.

Ugh.

So the screams from the van continued with the boys yelling "HARRIET" and I was yelling too...

Around 6:30, Ryan finally caught sight of her and called out to our little Houdini. She scrambled back to him whining with glee and happiness and hopped into the car with ease. What a nightmare! I never want that to happen but I was so impressed with the Adams County Animal Control as they sent a truck to help us...impressive!
I also saw one of my oldest friends at our house for some catch up - Dan Condon. I worked with him 20 years ago at Camp Heartland, the camp for kids infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and also worked with him at a leadership camp for high school students. I love that our friendship has expanded several states and many years. Eban took this shot so that’s why we look so good – cough/cough.

For some news on the boys…well, they graduated from wanting coffee every morning to wanting hot coffee or Starbucks every morning. Therefore, I need to warm up their chocolate milk so that it’s hot like my coffee. I swear I created monsters with this fad.

Jack and Eban still love the band called the Nadas. They always want to sing their songs in the car and it’s so sweet to see them sing with all their might. Below is a video of Jack in the Rehm’s basement asking me to sing while he accompanies me on the drums. I love it!

Speaking of this evening – my heart melted with an act of love from both of my boys toward Dennis….as all the kids were playing in the Rehm’s backyard one evening, Dennis tripped and did a HUGE face plant in the grass. You could tell it hurt and Eban and Jack were right by his side when it happened. As all the adults watched from the huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows, we watched as Eban hugged Dennis and kissed him in hopes that he would feel better. Then Dennis, still crying, pointed to a different part of his head. So Jack stepped up on his tiptoes and kissed Dennis’ head and then Dennis stopped crying. All the boys smiled at one another and they continued playing. That brief moment of empathy and love was more heartwarming than words can express. I was so proud and I could have cried with love of my boys and the choices they made that night toward Dennis.

Here’s another Dennis story - - I guess he’s getting bullied at his preschool or he’s feeling uncomfortable around a certain little guy. Jen asked him what he was going to do and he said nothing. Then he piped up and told her that he was going to have Eban beat him up. Nice.

Jack Requesting ALL of his Favorite Songs by The Nadas (out of Des Moines, Iowa)