Those of you who know me well know that I love animals. I love dogs and cats (even though I am allergic to cats) and I love going to well maintained zoos. Last night, I had an animal visitor.

My mother and my son came to Tennessee from Texas and California, respectively, for Christmas. Jonathan flew back to LA today (Tuesday) and Mom will fly to Houston tomorrow from the Nashville airport. Since the airport is 3.5 hours away from my new home, the three of us came to my Murfreesboro house (which is only 40 minutes or so from the airport) Monday night. We ordered a pizza for dinner and, as the delivery person walked away, I looked down and there sat a black pit bull terrier wagging his tail off. I said hello, petted his head, and in the house he came. He was the sweetest, friendliest guy! Jonathan decided to walk him around to the neighbors to find his home. No one knew the pup…..and all of them backed way up when they saw him. Jonathan tried to reassure them that he was very friendly, but no one trusted a pit bull. We took him to a 24 hour vet to see if he was micro chipped and he was not. They determined he was between six months and a year old.

We came back to the house and, since Mom is highly allergic to most dogs, sat outside on the back patio with the dog. We were trying to figure out our next move when the neighbor dogs started barking at ‘our’ pup. He never barked back, just backed away from the fence when the others barked. One neighbor came outside and said, “You never found his home?” Jonathan replied, “No, we may have to let him sleep here tonight.” She replied, “Not if he makes all the neighborhood dogs bark.” Wait…what?! He doesn’t make a peep other than the thumping of his wagging tail, but he’s causing trouble!

My son decided to sleep in the car with him. Then his Mema convinced him to come in and sleep upstairs with the door closed. Jonathan is 6’3″ and slept on a love seat……with the dog on top of him part of the night. They bonded.

This morning, I called several vets, contacted rescue and humane society groups, searched the Internet….all to no avail. As an absolute last resort, we finally brought him to PAWS, Pet Adoption and Welfare Services for my county. In other words, the pound. I cried, offered a hefty donation if they would keep him until he was adopted, but was informed it doesn’t work that way. They keep him three business days for owners to retrieve lost pets. Then they assess him to see if they think he is adoptable. If not, euthanization. He’s friendly, playful, loving and wants to be loved. But–through no fault of his own–he was born a Pit Bull.

I wonder how many people are out there that are friendly, loving, and want to be loved but–through no fault of their own–were born in the ‘wrong’ country, state, city, neighborhood?

I begin today’s blog with a geography lesson. When I first met Kenn, he lived just north of Cincinnati, and I lived south of Nashville, about five and a half hours away from each other. The only state between Tennessee and Ohio is Kentucky. Now for my Texas friends and family, Cincinnati is to Ohio and Kentucky as Orange is to Texas and Louisiana…… sort of. At night, as you drive over a hill in Kentucky, nearing the Ohio state line, the bright lights of Cincinnati are just beautiful! And as you near the Texas state line…..well, there’s the Orange city limits sign.

Anyway, Kenn sold that house and, while it was a smidge too big for one person (it had SEVEN bathrooms!), it had some wonderful personalized parts, namely Kenn’s train room. He is into model trains, and even put tunnels through his foundation for them to travel through! Now, he lives in Tipp City, just north of Dayton, Ohio. It’s about 45 minutes north of the sold home. About two and a half hours northeast of that, is Massillon, where he works with his cousin, Tim. Massillon is near Canton and, while it’s hard to fathom for Texan folks, you are almost out of Ohio real estate! An hour north of Canton is Cleveland, which is on Lake Erie.

Kenn has lived in Ohio his entire life, except for two years when he was a child. I, on the other hand, have lived in Texas, New Jersey, Georgia, and now Tennessee. As we have tried to decide the best time to get married (still haven’t figured it out!) we have also tried to figure out where we will live once we are married. As it turns out, Murfreesboro is not right for Kenn and Cincinnati is not right for me. A couple of years ago, Kenn owned a lake house on Norris Lake, about 30 minutes north of Knoxville. After looking online for several months and seeing HUNDREDS of houses in many locations, we narrowed our search to the Norris Lake area.

While each of us had personal preferences (i.e. he wanted a train room, basement, and big garage and I wanted main level bedrooms and laundry, and not too many bathrooms!) both of us hoped for fewer but bigger rooms, and something pretty to look at out the windows. We decided to go look at houses in person in mid September, mainly as a distraction for me. Earlier that week, I had made that horrible decision about Krystal, and needed something to get my mind off of it. We set out with a real estate agent to look at 18 homes scattered all around the lake. We had ranked them, and wouldn’t you know that our number one choice went under contract right before we started looking! I ALWAYS scratch pending homes off my list (whats the point in looking?!) but since this was our number one, we decided to take a look. And of course, it left the others in the dust!!! While the pending sale was sketchy to say the least (someone from Dubai wanted it, sight unseen, no contingencies) it was still under contract. After our search was over, we made the decision to build if the house sold. Meanwhile, I prayed that if it wasn’t the right house for our future, the Dubai thing would work out. Well it didn’t work out, and I am now sitting in my new great room, updating my blog, and occasionally looking out at the spectacular view of Norris Lake. I am closer to Ohio, the same distance from Atlanta as before, and three and a half hours away from Murfreesboro. Kenn is here as much as he can be, and will happily move here permanently once we are married. We have met wonderful neighbors, some of which have promised to look out for me while Kenn is away.

I am amazed as I look back at the twists and turns my new life’s road has taken. I’ve learned that life throws you curveballs on a regular basis!  In the meantime, Casey is trying to adjust to yet another new home.  Bless his heart.