a momentary lapse in judgement

o.k. so i forgot for a split second why i don't have pets. when i was little, i begged and begged for a puppy. my dad said no, no, and no. finally, when i was 7 and my brother was 4, he caved. we got schotzie. i had her until i was a freshman in college and we had to have her put to sleep because she was in heart failure. i won't go in to those details because it involves me, on the ground in the parking lot of the vet clinic, crying hysterically and seemingly at the end of my rope. after i moved away to college, my brother got a cocker puppy named fozzy bear. he had her for years and she went to college with him and experienced all his little escapades first hand. once, she jumped out of the back of his truck and broke her leg along with sustaining several other serious injuries. she finally had to be put to sleep because of old age. then, i got atticus (a cocker puppy) and my brother got snaggle (a pit bull). atticus moved with me from place to place and was there for my marriage to chad and my graduate school graduation and the birth of my first born and my pregnancy with chase. he died suddenly when i was in texas and my friend called and told chad and he called and told me. this was terribly difficult. i was in shock and didn't get to say goodbye. that was it. i told myself no more pets. ever. i'm still not over losing him. well, my brother's sweet snaggle who has moved to and from austin, san marcos, houston, and finally to alaska died last monday morning. she had tumors that eventually took her lilfe. kevin had her for 11 years and she had been by his side for all of his adult life. it was extremely difficult for him. i think in a past blog, i have mentioned the 2 mommy cats that 2 friends of mine and i rescued from this run down farm. they each had 4 kittens. we kept one of the mommy cats and her 4 kittens for a good while. keri decided to keep the mommy and scout...one of her kittens. we also decided that she should keep boo radley...one of the kittens from the other litter. she may or may not be questioning why she listens to me about now. i loved boo radley. the kids loved boo radley. keri...does not love boo radley. keri loves my children...and could not tell them no. he is black and white and so cute. aiden and i asked if boo radley could come over for a visit about a week and a half ago. he was only supposed to stay the day. but the day turned into 2...turned into 4...and so on. the kids were sharing responsibility for him and we were all trying to convince chad that boo radley should be for keeps. chad was actually thinking about it. until...friday. we took him to his first vet appointment on friday morning for him to get his shots, etc. colton was at school, chase stayed home with chad in case his allergy to dogs acted up at the vet clinic, and aiden came with me and boo radley. the vet informs us that boo radley has worms. o.k. not uncommon for kittens. we just need to have him de-wormed...right? wrong. these worms are on the CDC list. does anyone know what that means? IT MEANS THEY ARE TRANSFERABLE TO HUMANS. alright. no problem. we will treat him and it's not like the kids have been dealing with the litter. i have. and i wash my hands more than a nurse. so we should be o.k. then, the sweet little vet tells me that he also has a parasite. one that he got from his mother through sharing litter, evidently. giardia. contracted by drinking contaminated water. causes extreme diarrhea. also tranferable to humans. um...excuse me? are you telling me that this sweet, harmless, little boo radley kitten may have not only given us a weird worm rash, but giardia as well? that is what he was telling me. well, not exactly. it would be unlikely that we would have picked up anything due to my ocd and obsessive cleanliness. (can we all thank Jesus for obsessive-compulsive disorder?) he was more telling me how to treat and handle the kitten while he is getting his parasite medicine and all healed up. i'll tell you how i'm gonna handle it. in my oppinion, he was really missing keri's apartment and the animal kingdom over there. he actually told me that he wanted to go back to live there. so...he did.