Cousin Willy

After spending two days of last week home sick with the flu I was looking forward to a visit from the in-laws. Strange I know but I actually get along with my in-laws. They can be quite entertaining. Hence the inspiration for my first book. I was especially looking forward to this visit because they were bringing their dog Willy, whom I affectionately call Cousin Willy, to our house for the first time. Willy is an adorable, furry, little creature. He came to live with Nancy and Charlie purely by chance. You see, he once belonged to Nancy's sister Mary Ann. She and her husband had Willy for eight years. One day it was discovered that their grandson was allergic to Willy. Now they couldn't get rid of the grandson so the only alternative was to find Willy a good home. After several weeks of interviews and discussions, Nancy and Charlie were finally awarded custody of and they couldn't have been happier.

When Nancy and Charlie go out of town Chip and I will be dog-sitting Cousin Willy so it is very important that he gets along with Caesar and Cleo. They all met back at Christmas and seemed to get along good but this time Willy was coming to their turf so we were a little nervous. Well, we shouldn't have been because after the intial butt sniffing greeting, everything was just fine. We even left them alone for a couple of hours while we went to dinner. However, the big test of their ability to get along was Saturday. We were attending Chip's cousin's wedding in Hertford which is a little over 2 hours from us. We would be leaving the dogs alone for over 8 hours! We went to the wedding and it was beautiful. Everyone had a great time and we (or I can at least say I) forgot about the dogs. When we were almost home, I finally thought of the dogs and said "Don't worry Willy. We are almost home." Not that I had anything to worry about. Everyone was still alive. After three harmonious days together Cousin Willy went home. I'm sure he has been sad this week because he misses his buddiesv. Caesar and Cleo seem a little sad as well. And honestly, I miss the little fella too. I can't wait for him to come visit again.