Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge: Day 1

3 months ago, (okay, three months is way too long,  I know!) my friend, Meredith – Meredith’s Musings- Joie de Vivre nominated me to take part in the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge. I really dilly-dallied on this one because I had this idea that I would become super organized and plan out all 5 days in advance…… and because I just could not decide on any photos, time passed. Since no one was going to give me a much needed kick in the butt, I decided to shove myself right into it and just DO IT!

So, for Day 1 of Five Photos, Five Stories, I’m flashing back 5 years ago to June 2010.

Let me introduce you to our dog, Ari. She came to us from a shelter in late May, 2010. She was only 9 months old at the time, a very slight 11 lbs. She was a bit of an impulse addition, if you ask my husband. I had known for awhile that I wanted to get a dog. Our middle child was just ending junior year of high school and I wanted K to have the opportunity to bond with our new addition before leaving for college the following fall. I remember mentioning to my husband that I thought it would be nice and that the timing was right but according to him I never mentioned another word until I sent him the picture of Ari, who I had already adopted. Oops.

Ari grew to 20 lbs and a personality that is much larger. She does not like storms, wind, fireworks, men with hats, men holding anything that might be construed as a weapon, people singing Happy Birthday or people clapping. She is very opinionated and can hold her own in a barking contest. She is very protective of us and especially “her” baby, Beej.

Having shown us how well she can care for a baby, she feels it is high time she is allowed a pet of her own. She understands that her first choice- a kitten- is not practical since I’m allergic to cats but she will settle for a puppy. She does not understand why we told her no.

She loves singing along when Kris plays his bass clarinet or Andrew plays his trombone. She can chew a bone like nobody’s business and loves a good game of tug of war. She is the best licker in town. And she is the biggest baby- always wanting to be curled up in someone’s lap- all 20 lbs of her!

It feels as if Ari has been with us much longer. The kids got sad during a recent conversation when someone referred to “the next person to die” and I told them that could very well be Ari…. She came home with me one day and it felt like she had always been there. Although the smallest, she is certainly the loudest member of our family. I can’t imagine life without her.

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.

-Josh Billings

The Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge rules require you to post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or simply a short paragraph – it’s entirely up to you.

Then each day, nominate another blogger to carry on this challenge.

Accepting the challenge is entirely optional. This challenge is all in fun. 

Today, I nominate Prajakta at The Armchair Perfectionist .