Never, Never, Never feed your dog an egg salad sandwich

I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. - Marilyn Monroe

Leaving Seattle I spent the time weighing decisions. It is said that no one should make life changing decisions too quickly, but wait awhile. That seemed like good advice.

Around noon I realized I was hungry. I pulled out the egg salad sandwich that Misty had made for me. The dog treats were gone and Gypsy was looking at me with soulful eyes. After a few bites, I couldn’t eat any more. I gave Gypsy half and offered the rest to Veronica, who turned her head away. Gypsy gobbled hers down and then finished off Veroncia’s half.

As we were nearing Spokane, Gypsy started pawing my arm to let me know she needed a potty break. There was nowhere to pull off. The roadside was too narrow to safely stop and get out of the car.

“Ok, Gypsy,” I said. “I’ll pull off as soon as I can find a place.”

Her pawing at me became more frantic as I drove. I kept scanning the area to find a place to pull off. There wasn’t one. We were coming up on Spokane and I would pull off at the first exit that came along.

Glypsy whined and pawed at me again, then jumped into the back seat.

Then I smelled it. I nearly gagged and rolled down the windows. Finally there was an exit. I took it and drove until I saw a safe pulloff site. I stopped the car and let the dogs out. The egg salad sandwich had given Gypsy diarrhea and the back seat was a mess. Thankfully she had jumped in back. She looked mortified…and guilty. I didn’t yell at her. She tried to let me know. I pulled my “go box” out of the back of the car. There was a roll of paper towels and some wet wipes. I cleaned up as much as possible, then drove to the grocery to buy more cleaning supplies and some disinfectant.

As I pulled back onto I-90 I started laughing. I laughed at how ridicuous life can be. I couldn’t stop laughing. I really don’t know why I laughed, but it was better than crying. I laughed until my stomach hurt.

Arriving in Columbia Falls, I stopped by a pharmacy to fill the prescription for methotrexate. I walked in, handed the script to the pharmacist. He looked at it. He looked back up at me and then looked at the script again. He stood there, staring at it for a long time. Then he went away and came back awhile later and handed me the little white bag with the prescription. He showed me where to find the syringes.

It was good to be home. I laid the sack with the methotrexate on the kitchen counter. The pharmacist’s reaction was puzzling. I decided to find out more about that drug before taking it. I read the side effects. I read that I needed to stay away from pets because my immune system would be compromised. Resistance to colds, flu and other things would be lowered. I thought about it for a week, then threw away the little white bag and its contents. I would not live like that. The dogs were family and they kept me sane. I would find another way.