brothers from another mother

2001 was a big year for me... for many of us.  i graduated from college, bought my first place and started looking at graduate schools.  i was also in the midst of exiting a season of my life that was marked with depression and just all-around not goodness.  when i moved back to denver, i considered it a fresh start.   so... why not get a dog?  all through college i had wanted one.  i have always had a dog growing up and being apart from the family dogs during college just made my desire grow.  when i got my first place i decided it was time for a dog.

i went to the Denver Dumb Friends League and promptly made my way over to the puppy wing.  i don't remember much about that day.  just that towards the end of my visit, i came to a glassed in cage with a litter of puppies that had been recently moved from New Mexico.  they were a wild little bunch... wrestling and squirming all over each other.  little warm chocolate bodies wiggling to and fro.  and then... another little puppy caught my eye.  he was in the corner of the kennel by himself... and he was blonde... or buff as the experts like to say.  i loved him immediately.  i put my hands up on the glass and said, "that's him... that's trooper."  

yes, i named him before i even owned him.  i think you're learning this about me.  i name things... like my ring, my car, my husbands car and a puppy i didn't even own.

well, i promptly went out to the front office and i bought that little puppy.  they had called him lucious... which just sounded a little too much like lucifer to me... but i suppose it didn't really matter... because his name was trooper now.  

although the lucifer-ish name should've probably tipped me off... now that i think about it.

10 weeks old

i expected to come home with my sweet, sleepy little puppy and that we would cuddle and nap all day long.  but, after about an hour or so, trooper's true puppy colors came out.  apparently when i saw him, he was recovering from being fixed and had been sedated.  the REAL trooper was not the sleepy little wallflower i thought i had stumbled across.  the REAL trooper was a whirlwind of a dog.  a tornado of sharp puppy teeth and a boat load of spunk.  trooper damaged many an object in those early days... sure, he potty trained quickly, but that was about it.  we were the worst pair in his puppy kindergarten class at the Aurora Rec Center.  i think they graduated us just so they wouldn't have to have us go through the program for a second time.  he unstuffed a couch i owned, ripped up carpet, destroyed my glasses, chewed up my Bible from my parents.  he and i, we were a mess.  i was insecure and trying to figure myself out, and my puppy was ruler of the universe... or shall i say tyrant.  

but through it all, i loved that dog more than anything.  it was a mother's love.  even though he had boundless energy and erred on the destructive side, he was loyal and loved me from the tippy tops of his satellite dish ears down to his little skinny paws.  

the more confident i became as i outgrew my awkward self (was college like middle school for anyone else but me out there?) the better trooper and i worked together.  he outgrew the chewing phase by the time he was two and when he was about 4 i decided i should probably exercise him more than i was.  besides, i was planning a trip to israel that included hiking 6-10 miles a day and needed to train myself.  we started running...

here is where trooper blossomed.  i had finally found something that satisfied the poor animal.  i'm only sorry that he and i didn't take on running sooner.  it would've done us both good. 

trooper has walked me through my highs and lows over the past 11 years... 9/11, losing 50 pounds, finishing my Master's Degree, my first shaky year as a teacher, my first (and, sadly, second) student death, my daddy's cancer and death, meeting and falling in love with kjaer, getting married... 

let's just say, that sturdy little blonde body has been cried upon and laughed upon for just about every event in the past decade.  he was always by my side and i always wanted him there because he was and is my furry little angel. 

he wasn't a furry little angel to others though.  they mostly found his endless energy annoying.  like any good mother, i would defend him to the death.  when kjaer came into the picture, trooper wasn't too sure he could share me.  if we would hug, he would bark.  actually... come to think of it... he still does sometimes.  i think trooper made kjaer seriously consider if he REALLY wanted to marry me.  

luckily, i was able to outshine the fuzzy little creature that threatened my future with my charming personality and good looks.

kjaer and i were married in 2010 and there was a period of adjustment.  when you get a puppy in your early 20's... you don't really think about the repercussions of having it sleep on your bed.  you just think it's so cute and helpless and you would just DIE if you couldn't hold that warm little furball close to you... so you lift the whimpering little creature onto your bed in the darkness of your bedroom... and the rest is history.  

but even though trooper and i fit in a queen sized bed together during my single days... the addition of a 6'4" man complicated the mattress real estate in our household.  i can't even tell you how many nights kjaer and i have lost sleep because of my bed-hog-dog.  but we figure... he's almost 11 years old now... what's the point?  so we've simply resolved that our next dog is not allowed on the bed.  

you live, you learn, right?

by the way, i say "we" but i think deep down kjaer has it in him to be the disciplinarian and train trooper to sleep on the floor.  i think he is just avoiding the tears and whines and moans that would be exhaled from his wife in that situation.

kjaer has always liked dogs... but for as long as i've known him, he has LOVED cats.  he melts for cats the way some chics do for babies... his eyes get all mushy and i can almost hear an "awwwww" from underneath his manly exterior.  his parents had his childhood cat up until summer of 2010, when they finally laid Hobbes to rest.  it was a terrible day for kjaer and his family.  i can't even imagine... seeing as how the slightest thought in the direction of losing my little trooper pooper scooper makes my eyes swell with tears.  

a month later we were back to school and i get an email from my husband.  it read, "there's been a lil' cat hanging around here all morning.  i'm suddenly able to understand your puppy craze.  it's all i can do to not bring him home."  I kind of smiled at his email and kept going about my business with my class.  the next email came across within the hour... it was a picture of this scrawny little kitten, the exact same color as trooper... and even spookier, it looked like what i pictured hobbes would've looked like as a kitten.  same color and markings... except it was skinny and you could tell it had been living as a stray.  it was pretty darn cute.

i had my reservations though. first of all, i had developed an allergy to cats somewhere around high school.  they made me itch, sneeze, wheeze and get all congested.  people who aren't allergic to cats always think that people who are allergic to cats are making this up.  it can be rather annoying to convince someone that, yes, you really do feel like crap when you pet a furry, sweet little googly eyed kitten. 

by the way,  i see all of you non-allergic people rolling your eyes and i'm aware of this discrimination, just so you know!!!

kjaer and i talked after school that day over the phone.  the cat had been hanging around in a bush outside his art room all day, and when the door would open, it would always find its way into him.  i could tell it had weaseled its way into the very corner of kjaer's heart.  we talked about my allergies and kjaer felt bad about the possibility of me sniffling for the next 20 years.  i left the decision up to him because i love my husband and could treat my allergies with clariton like everyone else...  plus, the furball fit my one kitty criteria... he had to purr like a freight train.   kjaer came home empty handed.

i think it's the only time i've seen him sulk. 

he came in, sat down on our basement stairs and looked at me with misery in his eyes.  he couldn't stop thinking about his newest acquaintance... out on the crossroads of colfax and havana, defending himself against the gangs, violence and homeless people who threatened him.  even though kjaer had made the decision to leave him there, i finally said, "go back and get him... if he's still there, it's meant to be," if anything, to cheer to poor fellow up.  actually, i was afraid if i didn't, my husband would never recover. 

and that's how we got trooper's brother, Quincy... (or q-tip, quinn, "Q", Quinskers... you choose)

now trooper has always chased and barked at any creature that is not a dog.  in fact, i swear when i type the word squirrel, i can see his ears stand at attention like they do when anyone utters the word.  so when quincy came in the door, trooper's hackles bristled and he let out one low growl.  kjaer set quincy in front of troopers nose, firmly told trooper "no" and that was the end of that.  they've been BFF's ever since.

quincy is the first pet kjaer and i got together.  unlike kjaer's adopted son, troop-a-loop, quincy was brought under this roof when we were already a family.  it took us two weeks to name the poor little rascal.  kjaer thought we should name him Emelio... but he wanted us to say it like this, "EMEEEEEEELLIOOOOO!"  i thought tater tot was cute.  soon, i started naming streets around our beloved city and we landed on Quincy.  we both looked at each other and that was that.  fitting for a cat found on the streets of aurora (just much shadier ones!)  

on a side note, i hope you're not worried that this will be our process for naming our child.  i don't think we can bear the thought of having to stay an extra two weeks in the hospital because we can't think of a name.  so if we come home with a son named Emelio or a daughter named Tater Tot, just smile, nod and tell us they are the most beautiful, creative names you've ever heard of for children.  

now quincy has been just as fun as trooper when he was a kitten... though not quite as destructive.  that first night home, kjaer left him in our sun room while i tutored a little boy so that he could run to the local pet store and buy kitty cat things (litter, food, litterbox).  my little pupil and i kept hearing those funny kitten yowls and turned to look out into the screened in room.  there was quincy, glued to the screen about 3 feet up, staring at me and sobbing the most pitiful meow he could muster.  it was quite pathetic.

quincy has also been known to get himself into some predicaments... which trooper would NEVER do.  quincy had been found, several times as a kitten, on top of our roof.  of course, this always happened when i was supposed to be leaving for work.  instead, i ran around like a frantic mother calling to him while he navigated his way down.  he also, amazingly, gets into our attic somehow.  this, we have never quite figured out because he takes different routes each time.  all we know is that if we haven't seen him in a few hours, and we go out to the garage and call him, we'll hear a faint little meow from above.  kjaer gets the ladder and plays firefighter while i cheer him on.  

he did this a few weeks ago when kjaer was out of town.  my very pregnant self was trying to figure out if i could possibly climb a ladder and balance on rafters to free our little furball.  after placing a few phone calls to my firefighter brother, i went out into the garage and he'd made it down by himself.  sniff, sniff... my boy's growin' up!

quincy's latest trick is when i pull into the garage after coming home from work. if it's been a nice day, quincy has been out and about patrolling the neighborhood (his favorite pastime besides napping).  he'll hear the garage door and run into the garage as i pull in.  the minute the engine dies, he'll hop up on my hood and stare at me through the windshield.  already my mother reflexes have me panicking!  why is he so comfortable around cars?  what is wrong with this cat?  BUT THEN, i'll get out of the car and push the button to close the garage door... Quincy the acrobat jumps onto the roof of my car and the up onto the descending garage door as it folds back down.  talk about a mother having a meltdown.  i quickly pound the garage door button and freeze it as my beloved feline looks down on me from above like, what's the problem mom?  i was just having a little fun!

but quincy and trooper are always my favorite little duo together.  whether it's when quincy is napping and trooper comes and shoves his nose on his head just to smell his little brother and give him kisses, or when quincy instigates an epic game of tag on the hardwood floors. the two of them keep us in stitches!

a couple of weeks ago i heard kjaer burst into laughter from our living room.  i called down to him to see what was so funny.  apparently quincy had been stalking trooper, jumped on his back and rode him around like a cowboy on a bull.

i can't even tell you how many times we've found those two snuggled together, trooper resting his big ol' doggie head across quincy's back, quincy purring away like a freight train.   since i'm writing this during my night owl time... i have trooper snoring in his doggie bed, and quincy sitting regally on a chair snoozing.  as i watch both of them, i think we couldn't have made a better decision.  trooper has company while we're away at work, quincy has something to hone his hunting and stalking skills on.  

this morning, as i tossed and turned in my bed...  i was surrounded by my little animal kingdom.  quincy at my feet (why do cats gravitate towards people with allergies?) and trooper at my side.  it's amazing that there's room for all of kjaer, let alone a very pregnant me, with those two.  sometimes i wonder how in the world we're going to squeeze children into our bed after a scary dream.  but i guess that's yet to come.  

what i can say is, in the midst of our growing family, those two will always be a special part of it. they bring so much laughter and joy into our lives.  people say things change with your animals once you have munchkins... which i guess is understandable.  it's so hard to imagine though, especially when trooper has been an only child of sorts for 11 years with me. but i hope and pray that as we love on our new little creature (4 more days until baby k is due!) that our fuzzier sons embrace him or her... and also, that we won't forget our loyal boys who've stuck by us through thick and thin.