Happy Thanksgiving, to all those who are celebrating today! I am going to be cooking for part of the day, and swimming in a blissful lake of mashed potatoes and gravy for the rest of it, but before I dive in…
Did I tell you that Carla was invited to a dog’s birthday party?
I believe I have documented thoroughly just how obsessed Carla is with dogs. We are the luckiest people in the universe because we have seventeen dogs on our cul-de-sac (we can’t have many more houses than that; some households have multiple dogs). Carla knows them all by name. She is not quite so good with their humans. But I am familiar with our nearer neighbors, and so I have been trying to teach her to greet the human neighbors by name and to ask after their health before she turns her attention to the dogs. It’s a little perfunctory, with many of the neighbors, but I would say she has developed good relationships with several of them. One is a grandmother-type, who is lovely and sweet, and who allows Carla to walk her very well-trained cockapoo (while she walks alongside them). Another is an empty nester (Lynn) who enjoys kids.
(P.S. Lynn is the type of woman whom I want to be my best friend. She is outgoing and friendly and kind. She has a strong faith that is clear but not evangelical, she works in a social-services type career that I admire, she makes AMAZING baked goods. She has four grown kids, and LOVES having a big family. I get the feeling that having them all home from college during the pandemic was a joy for her, and that it has been really hard to have them all leave her at once this year. She is the kind of person who treats you like a friend even when you don’t actually know her that well, and I wish there were some manual for upgrading from Neighbor Who Entertains My Kid Sometimes to Bestie.)
Lynn has a beautiful, well-trained golden retriever named Barbara. Carla loves Barbara almost as much as she loved my parents’ late golden doodle. And Lynn is very lenient about allowing Carla to play with Barbara on their lawn. I can watch Carla from across the street, so I usually sit outside and write or read while keeping an eye on Carla.
Anyway, it was Barbara’s birthday recently, and Lynn let us know in advance and said she would be having a party for Barbara. Carla immediately wanted to buy a present for Barbara, so we went to the store one day after school and she looked through all the options, haggled with me on budget, and finally chose an appropriate gift. Once home, she wrapped the present and made Barbara a lovely card. Please recall that Barbara is a dog.
The day of the party, Carla could talk of nothing else. What time was the party? When would Lynn be home from work? Could Barbara come over to our backyard? (No.) Lynn, of course, had normal adult-human things that delayed her and so was an hour later than she thought she’d be; very easy to understand as an adult, but less so for a child frantic to celebrate.
At LAST we got word that Lynn and Barbara would be home for the party! Carla grabbed the gift and the card (Barbara is still a dog) and we headed over. Carla helped Barbara open the gift. Lynn read the card out loud. Then Carla and Barbara played with the brand-new squeaky hamburger, Lynn allowed Carla to give her some treats, and we took lots of pictures, and Lynn handed us some cookies. That was the party. It was entirely for Carla’s benefit.
I feel so incredibly lucky to have such wonderful neighbors. Neighbors who are friendly and kind. Neighbors who understand Carla’s love for their pets and indulge her by bringing their dogs out for pets and walks and games of fetch. Neighbors who stage canine birthday parties purely for the joy it brings my little girl.
What a lovely story! Lynn seems like the kind of person I’d want for a best friend as well. Amazing for Carla to have so many dogs around without you having to actually have a dog.
Thank you for this! It warmed the very cockles of my heart. People can be so kind!
That was lovely. I’m glad Carla and Barbara had such a nice party.
Oh, now I want to be Lynn’s friend too! How nice of her. And I love that Carla did a card for Barbara (who is still a dog).
This is so lovely. My best friend sounds a lot like Lynn – everyone adores her. She doesn’t even have to try to be likeable…joy just oozes out of her. I got the better end of that deal as I’m introverted and, at times, crusty.
For years I wanted to be friends with an older woman in my church and then through a series of unexpected events had the chance to ask her to “mentor” me – it has been WONDERFUL. Take the leap and just ask Lynn to do things together. I bet she’d be tickled pink, and having older friends is wonderful!!!
I agree on the neighbours. We have two sets of middle-aged neighbours (empty-nesters) who spoil our kids. Not in an over-the-top way, but thoughtful gestures that make me know how much they care. Like the COVID snowman our neighbour made at the beginning of the pandemic with a birthday sign on it for my daughter (the snowman even had a mask) who had just learned her birthday party had to be canceled because the world had shut down a few days earlier. Or the neighbour who came over because he was going to be away on Halloween and brought the kids a baggie full of high-end chocolate because he wanted to make sure they received something from him. Or the basketball hoop they bought for our kids because they saw how much time they spent outside playing and really wanted to invest in physical activity (these neighbours are physiotherapists…)! It makes my heart warm and cozy just thinking about them and I’m so glad at how much time and thought they invest into our family and how much joy the kids bring them (writing chalk messages, taking over home-baked goods – in their eyes our kids can do no wrong)!
This was a delightful and hilarious (“Barbara is still a dog”) post. And I think this party may have been one of Lynn’s ways of showing she’d like to upgrade the relationship, too! And she has EXCELLENT pet-naming skills.
Oh the people you meet along the way. I think Lynn sounds delightful, and not just because of a dog birthday party which is fun. Kind thoughtful people are few, I hope you find that manual you need to learn how to transform her into your bestie.
Such a sweet story…
Easy for me to say, but harder for me to do, ask her over for coffee or tea sometime. I have a feeling she would be delighted to get to know you better. Or, if she’s out while Carla is playing with Barbara (a delightful dog name), instead of reading or writing, wander over and just have conversation.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Suzanne. I am very grateful to have found my way to this corner of the internet.
LIFE GOALS. I want to be just like Lynn. Also, does anyone else think it’s amazing that she named her dog Barbara. I LOVE IT SO MUCH
Oh, this story is so sweet. If you ever find yourself in southeastern Wisconsin, I’ll throw a party for Hannah (who is a dog) and invite you and Carla!
Lynn sounds like good people!
Barbara is such a great name for a dog! My mom almost named Lucy that, because Barbara is my grandma’s name.
This is such a sweet, heartwarming story and I love that Lynn did that for Carla!
I… might have smiled to hard that it squished some tears out. I’m getting the feeling that Carla is almost exactly like my daughter at the same age (now 18). Have you seen those Blue Q bags and teatowels that say “People I want to meet: Dogs”? We visited my MIL at her winter house in Florida a few times before she died, and the highlight was going to the market on Saturday, not for anything they sold at the market, but to see everyone’s dogs.