Big "Mac" Attack

This is what I came home to this evening - a puppy on a trampoline. Before you go thinking I'm a mean dog mama I should mention he has eaten every bed I've given him so he sneaks onto the trampoline when he thinks I'm not looking.

Owning a dog has not been exactly what I imagined. When we brought this cutey home a year ago the adjustment period was raw and rough. I realized that although I always had dogs in the house when I was growing up, I never had a dog - my mom had the dog. Now I often feel resentful of the attention that he wants and the way he follows me around the house c-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-l-y.

But when he isn't home, like the day we came back from vacation and he was still at the kennel, the energy of the house just isn't right. The adjustment time has been ever so much longer than I foresaw but his energy has integrated into that of the family's and he's one of us now. So, I come home to a dog on a trampoline and I can laugh, and snap a picture, and finally feel grateful for his presence in our life.

What adjustment period did you underestimate? When did it finally feel fulfilling?