Gumbo

Dear Gumbo,

We are sorry. We simply are. There are really no other words than just that! We have failed you. We truly have. We have given you a false sense of reality. We got you literally the day before quarantine started. We didn’t even call it quarantine back then … back then … we were oblivious. We thought we were given a blissful blessing of 2-3 weeks at home to potty train you. Little did we know that 2-3 weeks was really going to be 5-6 months, and let’s be honest … it’s been less than blissful. You were harder to manage than two toddlers during quarantine. But we still love you!

In spite of that, we set you up with this beautiful life outside of a kennel. A life where you could run and play at your leisure and your own free will … but that’s not your life anymore, NOPE! Not one bit. You see … you can’t be trusted outside of that kennel, so starting tomorrow we will leave, and you will be in a kennel all day. We hope you aren’t mad, and that you understand this isn’t a punishment.

You probably won’t understand. You’ll probably feel like it is a punishment. You’ll probably pee with excitement when we get home and then once I’ve cleaned that up, you’ll pee out of spite because we left you in the kennel all day … and I’ll be mad that I am still cleaning your pee up after 5-6 blissful months of potty training. You will probably run around in circles and eventually chew something we like or eat something we wanted to eat. We know your ways. We know you’ll get us back, but at the end of the day before we lock you back up in that kennel for the night we will tell each other we are sorry and we love each other … and then in the words of Livi, “We’ll do it all again tomorrow!”

Love,

Your loving family.