Putting things in perspective.

Abby being tormented by enjoying her birthday party last year. The theme was "Girlz in da' Hood."

Last night we noticed that our little Abby was acting a bit strange. She was laying on the couch and was shivering. While this is not really unusual--she is a very small chihuahua with very little body fat, after all--it wasn't cold by any means and she was sitting right by a lamp. I picked her up and she felt a little too warm.

I instantly started to worry. Abby is nine years old, after all. And I know that she won't be around forever, although it brings tears to my eyes to even think about that. Our girls are pretty much like one of our children and are a very important part of our family.

We can't imagine life without them.

Anyway.

Back to the story.

So I held her for awhile, put her down, and she went into her crate. Without being told to.

More worry.

When I went to let her and Hailey out this morning, Hailey bounded out as usual and ran straight outside to go potty.

Abby usually does the same thing.

Not this morning.

She was curled up in her crate. I couldn't even coax her out.  I had to pull her out.

That is not good.

She didn't want to walk around or anything. She didn't want to chase Hailey, like she usually does.

I tried to get her to eat a piece of bread, which is one of her favorite treats, and she turned her head to the side.

So not good.

I took her outside to go potty, which she did, but I couldn't get her to walk back up the stairs.

Tears.

I took her upstairs to where John was still sleeping, told him what was going on, and we decided to call the vet. I tearfully asked him if he would go with me. If things were not good, I didn't want to be alone. She's like one of my kids, remember? And she can't tell me what's wrong, like my kids can.

I must say that we love our vet. I called and made an appointment for 15 minutes later.  I took Abby back upstairs with me, and I put her in our bathroom with us while we were getting ready. Usually she snoops around at everything (she's very curious), but this morning she just laid there.

So not good.

We got to the vet and they took us right in. We told them what was going on and they took her to weigh her and do some blood work. I always hate the look the girls give us when the vet takes them from us. It's like, "What did I do to deserve this?"

It's pitiful.

The vet brought her back and said that yes, she did have a fever. He felt around her, and when he felt her back and lower extremities, she tensed up a bit. The bloodwork came back and her liver function numbers were a bit high. He suggested we leave her there for a couple of hours so they could give her some fluids and try and get her temperature down. He also said he'd give us some meds to help her liver function numbers normalize and for her pain in her back area.

It was so hard to leave her!

But it looks like she's going to be okay--we'll know more when we pick her up in a bit.

Hailey has been quite lonely this morning. Even though they fight like siblings (you know, jealousy type stuff), they really do love each other.

So, about the title of this post.

I've been worrying lately about some stuff that's been going on, one thing being the extra house we still have in Phoenix. I've been losing some sleep over  this stuff, and it's been frustrating.

But after this morning, and when I was having those thoughts about possibly losing our Abby, that stuff kind of didn't matter as much anymore.

Yes, I know she's a dog. But like I said, she and Hailey are very important members of our family. They entertain us, they're snuggly, they really just want to be with us, and we love having them around. Even when they love to be social (read: bark a lot) with the dogs next door. That drives me crazy sometimes.

They're also so unconditionally loving. There's nothing quite like having them meet you at the door when you get home, tails wagging, excited to see you. Or when they howl when you've been out of town if you don't quite give them the amount of attention they think they deserve for being left at home. Or when they wait--every school day--to hear Kailen's bus beep as it turns around in the cul-de-sac behind us right before it drops her off, and then they run to the door to wait for her to walk in, little bodies wiggling. Or when they can tell you've had a bad day and are extra snuggly.

They're awesome.

This morning's experience has been a great reminder of the importance of keeping things  in perspective and not worrying so much about things that are out of my control.

Easier said than done, I know.

But I'm going to try.