Deja vu

Hey, remember when this happened? Exactly two years later--literally within one week of the precise date--Chloe the codependent German Shepherd, age almost 6, tore the ACL in her other back knee.

Chloe's second staggeringly expensive ACL surgery, this time on her left leg, was a week ago. It means we'll be eating rice and beans for the 8 months it will take us to pay the animal hospital back, of course. They were very strict about the repayment period--they made us leave monthly postdated checks! I didn't know anyone still did that!

Looking on the bright side: um, at least we already had the crate and a toddler-gate to keep her downstairs!

I do try to keep my chin up, anyway, so that I don't obsess about the budget. I try not to feel incredibly guilty for spending literally my last dimes on my dog's bionic knee instead of, you know, donations to Haiti relief or something more imperative. The thought does cross my mind--isn't this an awfully selfish, first-world kind of thing to do, rack up debt and pinch pennies for a pet? A pet that doesn't even lay eggs or give milk, the lazy thing.

It is selfish, really. But then Chloe, lying on the floor next to my feet, rests her head on the arch of my foot and heaves a big sigh as her big brown eyes start to droop closed. And it turns out I'm not sorry to have made that choice, after all.