Of children and dogs

Yesterday, Jacob and his mother got separated in a store where they'd gone to buy valentines. He panicked, thinking he'd lost her. Jordan assured him she would never ever leave without him, and they are going to discuss again asking a salesperson for help. My heart was filled with sympathy for the poor child...until I remembered the day I left Jamie in the grocery store. As I drove away I glanced in the rear view mirror, only to see him madly chasing my car. In retrospect it reminds me of those horrible stories about dogs being thrown out of cars and desperately chasing those cars. Jamie apparently survived unscathed, though if he sees this he'll tell me, "I'm suing."
Another time I had my four plus a neighbor child in the drugstore. As I walked out I realized I only had four children and should have five. As I turned to go retrieve the missing child, I bumped into a woman. Excusing myself, I said, "I've lost a child." She patted me on the arm and said, "Don't worry, honey. You have enough." Wish I had digital pictures of those wonderful days.
The other day I saw a beautiful picture of a dog on Facebook with a sentiment to the effect that we should never trust a person who doesn't like a dog, but always trust a dog who doesn't like a person. I'm not sure Sophie is hat discriminating--she seems to love everyone. But she grows into a better dog every day. Sure, she has her moments of high frenzy over guests, but she calms down quickly. And, yes, she can be demanding when he wants to play fetch, but she deserves those minutes of my time. At night when she knows I'm headed for bed, she lies on her bed and waits for me to come give her a tummy rub. Today, she was playing with her toys for Jordan and me while we had a Valentine happy hour in the living room. Jordan caught this picture of her looking at me and titled it, "Yes, Momma."
She follows me everywhere around the house, knows the signs when I'm dressing to go out. If she doesn't want to go outside, she runs as fast as she can in the other direction when I get out the leash. When I went out to pick up scattered toys (boy and dog) this afternoon, she peeked out the door but wouldn't venture out--she did not want to be in the back yard if I was in the house. The picture above was taken by a friend--shows how badly she needs a haircut but also shows her sweet face and is a demonstration of how effective b&w photography can be.
So nice to be without snow, ice, slipper roads and walkways. Today it was sunny and beautiful, in the low sixties. Makes everyone want to be outside, and the traffic was heavy when I did errands this morning. I guess others felt the same way. My daffodils have grown so much in a week. And here's the orchid Jordan got me.
Life is good. Hope everyone had a happy St. Valentine's Day