Train Wreck

sixty-nine

There was no rush.

"LEAH!!!" Ben screeched, running to our friend and her husband as they got out of their car with a litter of seven yelping puppies as well as Maya.  We spent so much time with them when the puppies were first born that Kenny was as much a brother to me as Jesse and Rob.

The border collie mix puppies were even cuter than I could have imagined.  We had to start a separate puppies group chat that some of us kept muted for the most part or we would spend all day cooing over the adorable bundles of fluff.

Leah giggled as Benji quickly found Yoshi out of the basket of puppies, showing a couple of his new friends the puppy he chose.

"There are four more available so if any of you want a puppy, but make sure your parents are okay with it first," he warned, a grin on his face as he cuddled the black and white wiggling creature. Daisy decided to name her puppy Link after deep diving into Legends of Zelda for a while but Trisha allowed Trent to name their little guy.

He decided to name their puppy Oreo, both because of the color pattern and in honor of his favorite cookie.  Trisha was mildly annoyed at the boring name but couldn't be mad for too long when she first held the adorable pup.

We continued to welcome our friends and show them around the property, giving a few of the kids a look at the pond with a strict warning that no one was allowed to swim without an adult present.  They had seen the baseball diamond before it was at it's current almost finished state so after checking out that section of the yard we made our way back to the farmhouse/

The last thing we wanted was another tragedy, but Taylor's team was respectful and just happy to have a pizza party to end the summer before school started Tuesday.  Benji felt even more excited now that he found buddies that also loved video games, dogs, and sports.

I sipped my beer and watched as the group mingled, relaxing into the social setting while Lissy floated through the crowd, filling glasses with homemade lemonade and reminding them to take a look inside if they were interested.

My Dad's house sold the previous week and we had all his furniture in place so there were couches to relax and a couple beds that we could use if we ever decided to crash here instead of the rental.

It was difficult to let go of Dad's place, but a new family took a look and loved everything about the property.  Their oldest was going to be in seventh grade and loved baseball so Benji instantly took a liking to the sweet boy, offering to play catch and even inviting him to join their pizza party so he could meet some of the other athletes he would get to know over the years.

"The house is a work in progress but it's fun to show ya'll each step of the way so you can see how far we've come!" she commented to one of Benji's baseball friends moms.  "We plan to keep eating the proverbial elephant a bite at a time so we can finally move in the spring."

Watching her chat with women 15 year her senior as though they were equals was an incredible site.  She fit in perfectly with the soccer mom tribe, easily endearing herself to everyone she met while staying true to herself.  Most had no idea their entire story or how Benji and I were connected, but they didn't need to know.

It's one of the reasons I love her.

My Little lamb found herself adapting with grace and kindness, especially when Benji was involved.  We tried to make time for ourselves as well but that usually meant spending a couple hours at the hardware store finding the right stain for the wraparound porch or cleaning barns and kennels.

I didn't mind.  We had forever, so seeing my love in her element while we build a life together is more than enough for now.  Maybe one day we can do real date nights where I put on a suit and she wears a gorgeous dress, but that's not our life now.