His Dogness

We had back-to-back vacations.

We had already planned a trip to Black Mountain/Montreat when the family of a girl who goes to school with Sparkle Girl offered us a few days at their home at the beach.

So one week, we spent time poking around in a mountain stream and the next week we splashed in the waves.

At Black Mountain, we stayed at the Madison Inn in a room that had bunk beds. That alone was a grand adventure for Mr. Doobins who had never slept in a top bunk. When Garnet and I stayed at the Madison Inn the first time the kids weren’t with us, and, for breakfast, the inn served banana pancakes that we have been talking about ever since.

Once Doobins found out that he was going to the inn this time, he started talking about how much he was looking forward to those banana pancakes. Garnet and I kept telling him that we couldn’t guarantee that they would serve them again.

We assured him that it would certainly be something equally as yummy but that breakfast could very well be French toast or blueberry pancakes.

That made no impression on him whatsoever. He kept talking about how much he was looking forward to those banana pancakes.

The night we arrived, I was talking with Lois Baxter, the mother of one of the owners. She asked if there was anything we needed, and I took the liberty of telling her about Doobins and the banana pancakes, saying that I certainly understood if they served something else but that, if it was just a matter of a coin toss, we had a little boy who sure would love some banana pancakes.

She said she would say something to the person cooking breakfast, and, sure enough, the breakfast plates the next morning included banana pancades.

The inn has a porch on the second floor that wraps all the way around, so Sparkle Girl was able to circumnavigate the inn as she filled her grandmother in on the phone about all the fun she was having.

Sparkle Girl was still going strong after the fourth trip around so I rescued her grandmother and told Sparkle Girl to let Garnet talk to her.

At the beach, Garnet’s parents were there with us. It was a good thing that we had four adults. Sparkle Girl would have been happy to stay in the water from dawn until dusk so, after she wore out one adult, she would trade him or her in for a fresher one.

That adult could then take a break or turn his or her attention to Mr. Doobins who spent more time on the sand than in the water. When the tide went out, it left little cliffs on the beach. Doobins thought it was big fun to stand on the edge of a cliff until it collapsed and sent him sliding down.

He did spend time in the water, and, one time, his grin was so wide that I could see all of his teeth at once.

Since we have been back, I find myself pulling out the memory of that grin. I hope it something that I always remember.

When Sparkle Girl and I walk around the block with His Dogness, she often likes to play the “Would You Rather…?” game.

The idea is to compare two similar things and say which one that you would rather have or be.

It’s just whatever we come up with in the moment.

One time it might be “Would you rather have an banana split with pineapple or a brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream?” Another time it might be “Would you rather be a yard cart or a recycling bin?”

Before casting our vote one way or another, we might talk about the pros and cons of each possibility. For instance, “If you were a yard cart, it might get smelly inside if everything sat around too long with the lid closed but, if you were the recycling bin, a little dish detergent might drizzle out of the bottle onto you.”

If that drags on, sooner or later, the other person says it’s time to make a decision. The person does and we move on to the next choices.

After the double trips, we were playing and I said, “Would you rather have a house in the mountains or a house at the beach?”

Sparkle Girl was unable to make a decision. I didn’t press.