Some Things Just Don't Work Out (Farewell, Sweet George).

This has been on my mind for almost a week and it's so hard to put into words.

Our sweet George, our springy new addition to our family, is no longer with our family.

Let me just clarify: he's not dead. He's just not with our family anymore and has returned to the family we got him from.

George was only with us for 10 days and yet we miss him terribly.

Long story short, our daughter is highly asthmatic and has an allergy to short-haired dogs (who tend to have more dander) and it turns out she was allergic to George and that was that. We couldn't keep him any longer.

We were so stupid to not even consider her being allergic to him.

She used to react to all dogs, long or short-haired (besides Charles as her body is used to his body since she's never known anything different in her life), but it had been so long since she had reacted to any dog that we really truly didn't even think that her allergies may be a concern.

Again, how stupid could we have been.

We got George on a Monday and both the tiny person and myself were getting over a cold, so a few days of her sniffles never seemed out of place. By Thursday, she needed her blue puffer (Salbutamol, which is used in cases of acute breathing problems, aka, an asthma attack), before bed. Which meant, we thought, that we were headed into another cold because she daily attends that germ-pool called kindergarten and problems with breathing are usually our first sign that things are about to go downhill.

She needed her puffer again the next night, but there were still no symptoms of a cold. On Saturday, the first day she was to spend aaaaall day with George, things were becoming a little more clear: She had three asthma attacks. That never ever happens unless she's really sick (like heading to the ER sick) and she wasn't.

By Sunday night, and two asthma attacks later, I knew in my gut what it was and called John to tell him.And he was heartbroken. As was I, I cried for three days straight making this decision, but he took it particularly hard. You see, George likes John. That's kind of a big deal. Charles, who was supposed to be John's dog, the one he waited patiently for through all my years away at school, the one he took me to go pick out literal hours after moving back home after my last semester ended, well, he's my dog. Through and through. He frankly doesn't give a fig about John. On the few occasions that I've had weekends away without the family, Charles is so mad at me for leaving him with John that it takes him two to three days to start "talking" to me again. Happiness to Charles is him and mommy time, the way he thinks it always should be (minus the playtimes he has with the little, then their sole happiness is each other). By getting George, John had a dog. At least for the time being. I'm sure by the time he came back from work, George would have also been my dog, but at the moment, they had a bond and John was crushed to know that it was ending.

By Tuesday, I had contacted the family from which we got him and gave them the option to have him back or we could find a new home for him. To my surprise, they were so happy to have a second chance to have him again. They realized how much they missed him and how unfair they had been to him to never give him the time and work that he needed. I had sent them pictures almost every day of our adventures as they requested, and it seemed every picture of George's happy face hit them with guilt that they didn't give him that life. And they wanted to now.

On Thursday, George went back home. I scrubbed my house from top to bottom, washing everything that may have had George hair on it.

On Friday, I did it again.

Our tiny Beanie, who had been needing her puffer daily, finally did not need it Friday night. It was over. Life is back to the way it was.

While our time with George was short, he taught us that we definitely have room in our hearts for more additions to our family. It was a very big learning experience for us as we face the ever-nearing due date of our next daughter, that we can love new beings quickly and fiercely. Even though it seems like our hearts are already bursting with all the love for our Peachie and our golden man, we know now that they can grow rapidly to accommodate even more love. However, a tiny corner of our hearts will always be reserved for that little soul who momentarily came into our lives with his smiling eyes and constantly wagging tail.

We hoped you are loved endlessly the way you deserve, sweet Georgie boy.