RIP Schnoodle Rosen

Yesterday, we said goodbye to Schnoodle Rosen.  He lived a very long life, almost 15 years.  He was a grumpy old dog, even when he wasn't that old, but we loved him anyways :-)  Daniel's family adopted him on one of their weekly "Sunday Fun Day" trips and he has been a member of the family ever since.  As he got older he lost his hearing and most of his teeth, his black hair turned to gray, and his eyesight was fading fast.  Anytime he barked at Jackson grumpily, we liked to tease that he might "gum Jackson to death" because he had no teeth.  When we went to Phoenix a few weeks ago he was leaning against walls and seemed disoriented most of the time.  It's very sad to say goodbye, but it was time for Schnoodle to go.  Last night Daniel's parents, Evan, and his girlfriend Kristy buried Schnoodle in the backyard under their orange tree.  They called us so that we could participate in the burial over the phone.  It was one of the saddest things I have ever experienced.  Kristy told us over the phone that it looked like Schnoodle was just sleeping in the box.  Daniel's dad dug a hole while we all shared our favorite memories of Schnoodle.  Everyone was crying by the end of it.  As they lowered Schnoodle into the ground, Daniel's mom said that it didn't really look like he was sleeping anymore.  It was so sad. I'm glad I wasn't there to see him put in the ground and buried.  I think that must have been very hard. Losing a pet is so difficult, but it's absolutely worth the many years of joy we had with him as part of the Rosen family.  New life always comes to take the place of those who have passed, and this was no exception.  In fact, Evan and Kristy had just adopted a new dachshund puppy last week and named him "Doodle."  So after Schnoodle was buried, the family spent the evening playing with the new puppy.  It was perfect.

On Tuesday, Daniel and I had our first pre-marital counseling appointment.  Chris set us up with one of his classmates at Iliff School of Theology.  This worked out really well because Daniel had class until 6pm and then we just walked one building over to Iliff and met with our counselor.  She is extraordinarily qualified, with 2 Master's degrees, 11 years as a licensed preacher, and an almost complete Ph.D.  She had a whole curriculum and schedule prepared for us which really impressed me.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I certainly didn't think she would have spent so much time preparing.  We introduced ourselves and got to know her a little better, and talked about our expectations, goals, and what specific things we want to talk about.  Based on that information she is adjusting our schedule a little bit.  We're going to meet at least 5 times over the next 8 weeks.  I am hoping that this will give me absolute confidence that we have done everything we can to ensure a successful marriage.  Though I think our past 9 years together is a good indicator that we know how to resolve conflict and stay committed, I also think that our relative inexperience in difficult life situations means we haven't had a lot of things to test our relationship.  We've also never had any sort of formal counseling.  If nothing else, it will be some quality time we can spend together improving our relationship.  :-)  And lucky for us, Chris has taken care of the cost too!  Daniel and I knew that we couldn't really afford to pay for counseling ourselves, so Chris set it up for us.  Knowing that our counselor is a friend of Chris' and a student at Iliff gives me complete confidence that she can really help set us up for a long successful life together.

Tomorrow is my last day in the Schwartz/Yang lab.  I can't believe it's been almost 2 years.  The last few days I've been nervous about my new job.  What if I don't have the skills they expect me to?  What if I don't like anyone in the new lab?  What if I don't like the job itself?  I know I've been so lucky that I've never had a job I didn't like, and I feel like at some point my luck is going to run out.  Am I dumb to leave a job that I love with people that I enjoy working with to try something new?  I hope not.  I try to reassure myself that I have lots of experience, and they have hired me based on my resume and interview- and in both I was completely honest.  There is no reason I will not be completely prepared for this job.  And if I need to learn new skills, which I almost certainly will, then I know how to do that too.  I'm a quick learner, and I have the intelligence to figure things out if I have to.  And getting along with everyone shouldn't be a problem.  In general, I get along with pretty much everyone.  I'm trying to convince myself that this is a good decision- can you tell?  Tomorrow after work we're all going out for happy hour to wish me good luck in my future career.  It was so nice of everyone here to do that for me.  I'm going to miss everyone a lot.  This was the first job I had that I felt really successful.  Everyone here has taught me something.  But now I have to do what's best for me and our family- and a big raise is definitely going to help.  So I'm jumping in, hoping everything turns out for the best!