Today is the day. The day I’ve been worrying about for months.  Today is the day where I leave the comfort of my house, Sugar, and the puppies and I fly to Arizona for a couple of days to celebrate some family milestones with my 3 sisters and mom.  It wasn’t supposed to be like this-Sugar wasn’t SUPPOSED to go into heat until November and babies were supposed to be set for January.  I was thrilled because it’s that time of year that is so cold, dark and dreary that I couldn’t think of anything better than a couple of months surrounded by beautiful puppies!

So I booked a flight with my family to go to AZ for one week. Two days later, Sugar inexplicably came into heat.(like I really BELIEVE that dogs have any sense of schedule when it comes to these things?  I had calculated everything meticulously and then Sugar decided to show me who was REALLY in control!) All of a sudden the dates were changing in front of my eyes, and I had a paid ticket which we had all planned so we could be back in PLENTY of time for important things regarding Sugar.  I guess the best-laid plans……

Then I started thinking-can I even go on this trip anymore?  I certainly won’t be able to be gone a WEEK (nor would I want to if puppies were in my home).  How are we going to arrange to have Ken home with the pups and away from work? Will he know what to do?How is this possibly going to work and maybe I should just cancel going. What I thought was going to be a great trip away with family suddenly turned into a cause for panic. Ken and I discussed the options and we decided I would keep the ticket and we would just play it by ear.  If everyone was healthy, then I would consider going, otherwise, the trip was off.  I figured I would cancel my plane ticket and rebook at the very last minute if it was doable. Then the waiting began. I can tell you that this one little plane ticket caused a whole lot of stress leading up to this point!

But, right before Sugar delivered the pups the flight I was going on had to be changed by the airlines and so I gave them a call saying the new times didn’t work with what I currently had going on in my schedule and so we worked out an arrangement where they changed my ticket and moved it to a return date of Wednesday early morning instead.  This I felt was going to be the best chance to actually make it on the trip.

So I leave tonight for a trip and I don’t return until Wednesday morning.  Ken will take over the care of the puppies and I will do my very best to have a good time and not worry about Sugar and her puppies while away. If you know me, you know that this task will be a difficult one….

Organizing sheets, whelping pads, towels, and carpets to put them in order so that Ken has an easier time changing out the whelping box while I’m gone.  I took sheets and fleece material and cut them down to size so that they fit perfectly in the box!!!