Oh Taj! I pine for you as I once Pined for "Holiday Shimmer Barbie"!

I miss my dog. I have been home from Hawaii for a few days now but I really miss my dog. I have not unpacked, I have not gone grocery shopping (which I desperately need to do), I have not done laundry or dishes, and I definitely have not talked to my dog. He is not ignored. He gets plenty of attention from my sister and all of her friends. My Cousin brought his dog, yogi (a stout little puff ball of a mutt whom I love) over to play with my dog Taj but I was only there for ½ hour.
When I get up and let Taj out and feed him I can tell. When I come home after work with only enough time to change and go to the gym for my appointment with Trainer, I can tell. When I get home from the gym and am so tired I just make dinner and shower before collapsing into bed, I can tell. He knows that I miss him. He is waiting for me to have time for him. He seems to regard me with the sad sincerity of a child comforting their distraught parent. “I know” he says when really he has no clue.
Yesterday when I came home he was so happy to see me. He jumped up and down in place and did spin moves as he ran to the back door. When I let him out and did not accompany him but rather went to change for the gym he followed me back inside. He followed me up the stairs and while I looked for some gym shorts, he collapsed on his dog bed in the corner, expelling a huge sigh as if to say “I know, you are busy. Its fine, I will just lay here until you have time to be my friend.”
So I miss my dog. I miss him more than when I was gone. Its like the time I was in the 3rd grade and my aunt bought me this collectors edition Barbie. We did not have such toys. We always got “Tropical Fun Barbie” who came in a swim suit and cost $4.99. “Peaches and Cream Barbie” was simply out of our league. So when I got “Holiday Shimmer Barbie” for Christmas all I wanted to do was take her out of the box and feel the sparkling shining dress and look at her especially over the top make up and hair, up close. But my mom said I had to call my aunt and ask her if I could open the box. I remember thinking that I had never heard of such a ridiculous requirement. Who bought you a Christmas gift and expected it to stay in the box? Well apparently my aunt did. She told me it would be worth something someday if I left it in the box. At the time I was disappointed but I wanted to do the right thing so my mother put it on top of my wardrobe and Barbie smiled at me everyday. She knew that I wanted to free her. She was disappointed in my decision but understood. She waited patiently and about 2 weeks latter I told my mom that I didn’t care how much she would be worth; I wanted to play with my toy.
The beautiful sparkling, shining dress fell apart and her over the top hair became frizzy and tangled. Aside from the emerald green eye shadow (all the others had varied shades of blue) she was indistinguishable from all the “Tropical Fun” Barbie’s in no time.
The point is that my dog looks at me with that knowing smile because he can tell that I REALLY REALLY want to play with him. And he knows I will. The second point is that it is not only white trash to buy Barbie’s as collector’s items; it is also cruel to give them to children. It is much healthier to give them a dog.