The Perks

I won’t pretend as if it ranks up there with a spinal tap or chemotherapy or anything of the sort but standing at LM’s feet, watching him flinch and say “ow!” with every little pin prick of the laser last night was hard on Mom. He endured 5-6 pricks for each of the 5 red spots (spider angiomas) on his face, and four were in the tender skin around his eye. He was brave. He toughed it out. And he tried very hard not to cry when it was finally over. We iced his face and will see in a couple days when the redness subsides if the procedure was successful. The perk: they think my insurance may cover the procedure afterall.

We rushed home to schlep the dog off to the vet afterwards. The waiting room isn’t big enough for our dog and anyone else’s, so that’s always a fun time. (Gabe officially weighed in at 203 pounds.) The office has two cats that just wander around and at some point the one thought the coast was clear and had to come sneaking out for a peek. It was all I could do to hold onto Gabe and keep him from eating that cat. The vet loves him, says he’s doing great, but he could stand to lose a couple pounds (couldn’t we all?) I talked with her about our leash issues and she recommended a new trainer that will come right to our door. I’ve heard all of this before, but it’s at least worth an inquiring phone call. The perk: K9Advantage finally made a flea/tick solution that will go up to dogs of Gabe’s size. Translated this means that I can actually by a regular six month supply instead of having to pay double for twelve pouches just to cover the six months. In plain English: a vet bill cut in HALF!!

We stopped at Pizza Hut on our way home for take out. We haven’t had take out pizza in, well, years. I went in while the boys waited patiently in the car. I’ll try to summarize the experience in a word: incompetence. It certainly took me back to my days waiting tables at the Pizza Hut in my hometown, but it was absolutely crazy. The perk: knowing that I wasn’t responsible for the nightmare and that I could take my pizzas and LEAVE.

We got home and I quickly flipped through the mail. Catalogs full of skinny, sexy women, bills, bills and more bills. The perk: my totally beautiful, black watch tartan plaid bags arrived from Slush!! She’s really talented with that sewing machine and I’m glad that I could, in some small way, help her effort to adopt.

We got settled on the couch and turned on LM’s favorite show, “Survivor”. We enjoyed our pizza, laughed at how worn out our dog was just from going to the vet’s office and cheered when our favorite player on the show succeeded. LM sat with a frozen ice pack against his face and at one point, snuggled up against me, he said, “Isn’t this the best Thursday night ever, Mom?”

That, my friends, was the best perk of all.