The older I get the more I do things that I once said, "I'll never..." about. A.K.A. eating crow. You know the flavor: a plate full of "I'll never..." swallowed down with a little pride. Hopefully it is served with a side dish of humility and an extra helping of "shut the pie-hole."
I don't know what it is that causes me to make a decision long before the situation ever arises. I remember when I was pregnant for my daughter (first child) I said I would never take any medication during labor and the doctors would not be allowed to use any unnatural devices to get the baby out. After a 30 hour labor I logged in some morphine an epidural and one extraction device that looked like a plunger. Of course my first meal after giving birth was crow. I'm pretty sure I had it a la mode.
I could go on to reveal other vain "I'll never..." statements that resulted in what seems to be one of my favorite meals. I am in the process of raising children. That alone should bring the I nevers to a screeching halt. When will I learn?
This week I ate another plate of crow. I wasn't even hungry. But I ate it anyway.
Our 1.5 year old lab swallowed some rocks. Anyone who has ever had a labrador retriever or seen the movie "Marley and Me" knows that labs are capable of some pretty outrageous things. Rocks! And it wasn't her first time.
Last winter it was discovered that she ate some batteries. My husband administered hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. Two batteries and five rocks were ejected from Nancy Drew's belly. What?
Well, the rocks she swallowed this week did not come up. She needed surgery. My husband and I did not have the astronomical amount of money surgery would cost in our budget. But... Nancy Drew. We love her!
Years ago we had marveled at the amount of money people had poured into dogs for surgeries that cost hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars. Us? Never!
Well, when our beloved Nancy Drew was sick, rocks lodged in her small intestine, facing certain death or surgery and possible death, we had to take a look at the menu. There were only two selections.
1. Do nothing and watch her die
2. Get the surgery done and hopefully, extend her life
We chose number two and had the surgery done. In other words, I ordered crow. This time, however, it tasted pretty good. In fact, it was sweet. Nancy Drew pulled through the surgery. Sure we have a long recovery ahead of us and triple the work of caring for this dog. But she's alive. And she's so very, very sweet.
Nancy Drew eats rocks. I eat crow. What a pair we make!
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