Fur flies at birthday celebration

Deb made this invitation to the party.

On Sunday when I was making a cake, Joe asked me what it was for, and I replied, "For the dogs' birthday party."

"Is this what people do when they get old?" he asked, as if I was very, very pathetic.

Well, first of all, it wasn't for the dogs, it was for the people to eat with their coffee while the dogs played. Second, I'm not that old, and third, I do other things.

But I have to admit that the party was the highlight of my weekend. It was a triple celebration. Maddie's birthday was in January, but she never got to have her party. Mary Margaret's and Sue Ellen's are in March. We figured that since Maddie wouldn't know the difference, it was a good idea to do them all together.

We invited some special guests, including Theo, a beautiful Golden Retriever (who came with his people). We had the party at Deb's so the dogs could run around in her fenced-in backyard.

I guess there is some truth to Joe's perception that now that we are "old," we treat our dogs like kids. The real kids have moved on, so we transfer our need to nurture young things onto the dogs.

You should hear some of our conversations about potty training, how long they slept through the night and which toys they like best, and about behavior problems and how to solve them, or about the cute things they did. We watch them through the window while they run around in the back yard, and we have coffee and a snack and talk. Just like some of us did when the kids were toddlers.

Theo left the party early with his toy, so the three labs got theirs yesterday. At first they were mostly  interested in the wrapping paper. Then each one wanted the other's toy. Just like our kids used to be.

Soooooo cute.