“I don’t know, Maddie. This could backfire on us.”

Madison fidgeted in her chair. She didn’t want to consider the possibility.

Just the day before, Emily’s friend had asked if we’d be interested in dog-sitting while her family went on vacation. Of course we were interested! We just had one problem … convincing Curt. 

Curt has many wonderful qualities, but he is not an animal lover. He has never owned a dog. He’s allergic to cats. It’s actually amusing that he married me, a farmer’s daughter, who grew up surrounded by cats, dogs,horses, rabbits and a whole assortment of other animals. 

Through the years my girls and I have tried to change him. We’d insist he go with us to visit the pet store and see all the adorable puppy-dog faces. That didn’t work. Sometimes I’d attempt to sweet-talk him into it. That didn’t work. Every year the girls would write “a puppy” at the top of their birthday and Christmas lists. And that didn’t work. We tried it all, but Curt never budged.

So when he agreed to let us dog-sit over Labor Day weekend, no one was more surprised than me. But I did need to bring Madison back to reality.

“What happens if one of the dogs has an accident on the carpet? Or chews on Dad’s shoes? Or barks all night? Dad will say, ‘I told you so,’ and we’ll never get a puppy.”

Madison sighed. She knew we were taking a risk. But if it meant spending a long weekend with a couple of cute puppies, it was a risk she was willing to take.

Now, in the interest of time (and word count), I thought I’d show you (rather than tell you) all about it. Meet Mindy and Ruby …

Let’s just say … These. Dogs. Were. Adorable. And very well-behaved.

Each morning Madison eagerly ran downstairs and was greeted by two playful (and extremely pleased!) puppies. She giggled as Ruby snuck a quick “kiss.” “It’s like having a pet store in your own house!” Madison beamed.

We were having so much fun. Meanwhile, Curt basically ignored them.

Before we knew it, the weekend had flown by. The puppies went home, and our house seemed empty.

“Now what am I going to do?” Madison slumped into a chair. “I played with the puppies whenever I was bored.”

I held out my hand. “How about we go for a walk?”

As we headed on our way, I thought about the weekend. It was nice to hang out with the puppies, but it really didn’t end as I’d hoped. Curt didn’t instantly fall in love with them. He really didn’t have much to do with them at all. I felt a twinge of disappointment.

Suddenly, Madison looked up at me with a wide smile. “You said it might backfire, but I don’t think it did.”

Gotta love her positive attitude. 

That’s when I realized something. Just like taking a walk requires one step at a time, there are other things in life that also must happen – one step at a time. I grabbed Maddie’s hand and squeezed.

“You’re right sweetie,” I said. “I don’t believe it did.”