Checking in again

I didn't realize it had been so long since I've posted. Bad blogger, bad! It's just too nice outside at night to be in front of a computer screen.

Last week I was in Chicago for a conference. OK, not exactly in Chicago, but in Lombard, a surburb that wound up being 45 minutes away from the airport, provided the traffic is moving. The conference was pretty good altogether. I got to see my friends from around the country, take photos of everyone, hear some useful ideas and also present a workshop. I heard later that people liked it, so that was gratifying.

We are closer than ever to a new dog. The friend of one of our son's Facebook friends has a Great Dane that she cannot keep and so she is looking for a good home for him. He is five years old, all black with natural floppy ears, 135 pounds, and reportedly very smart and sweet. I spoke to the owner the other day and we had a long conversation as she vetted our credentials as potential Great Dane owners. At first she said she had several people interested and that she would get back to me, but at the end of the call, she agreed to bring Tank (an apt name, from his photos) to meet us this coming weekend. It turns out that I know the owner from our interactions a few years ago when she worked in HR for a hotel here in town. It’s a small world after all.

We feel as if we are adopting a child, getting nervous, hoping that the “parents” will like us, approve of our living arrangements, and allow us to take their baby. We are trying not to get too excited in case they decide we are not worthy. Kathy pointed out to me that we are "staging" our house for a dog: moving furniture around to make the house look bigger, so they can visualize their baby romping in our space. We are trying not to get our hopes up, pretending that it's OK if we don't get him. But it's not OK. How do people do this when they are adopting a child? How nerve wracking.