Monday, June 18, 2012

THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE by Diane Kelly

I recently spent three days at my mother's house, babysitting her ancient Pomeranian, Amber, while my mother jetted off on a much-needed vacation to Vegas with friends. Amber suffers from congestive heart failure and can no longer walk for any appreciable distance. Knowing the poor beast had to be bored out of her mind being stuck at the house, I loaded her up in the stroller I found in my mother's garage (the same one I used for my own kids when they were young and we visited my mother) and we set off for a stroll around the neighborhood.

As we passed a woman walking her own dog, she did a double take and said, "Oh! I didn't realize at first that was a dog in the stroller."  I supposed she'd initially thought I'd mated with Chewbacca and given birth to some type of hairy-faced offspring. : ) A few people driving by smiled at us as they passed.  I know I probably looked goofy pushing a dog in a stroller, but I really didn't care.  I was making an old, sweet dog happy and that's what mattered. 

We'll do funny things for love, won't we?  We'll go out of our way, inconvenience ourselves, sometimes even do things we abhor to make those we love happy. The things we'll do for love is one of the themes in DEATH, TAXES, AND EXTRA-HOLD HAIRSPRAY, book #3 in my Death & Taxes series, which will be released on June 26th.  In this book, my heroine - IRS Special Agent Tara Holloway - searches for a wig for her beloved boss, Lu "The Lobo" Lobozinksi, who has lost her hair due to chemotherapy treatments for cancer.  Buying a wig might not sound like much of a task, but given that Lu wears a strawberry-blond beehive, finding a wig that looks like her real hair is next to impossible!   But Lu's hair doesn't just have altitude, it has attitude, and Lu just isn't the same woman without her beehive.  Tara is bound and determined to find just the right wig, no matter what. 

How far would you go for those you love?  What funny or unusual or difficult things have you done for those you love?  We'd love to hear your stories!  



3 comments:

Tori Lennox said...

I have a friend whose dog is no longer able to go for walks, so she bought a stroller designed just for dogs. :)

Brandy said...

Aww, Amber looks absolutely adorable and thrilled to be "walking" around the neighborhood. You're fabulous for doing that for her.
I'm going to sound silly, but we have an older cat who is overweight. (Doc has no idea why.) and she can't jump on my bed because it's so high. Every night at bedtime I put her up on the bed so she can get her rubs and her purr can lull me to sleep. And in the morning when it's time to make the bed I gently lower her to the floor and watch her waddle off.

Kathy Bacus said...

You are such a good dogsitter, Diane. And you have the pictures to prove it...!