OBLIGATION: The act of binding oneself by a social, legal, or moral tie

"Don't worry.  We have an excellent friend who will be caring for our home and our dogs while we are away." --

Quote from my blog post I Am My Own Worst Enemy

Famous last words!  Apparently I am functioning under a misconception about responsibility.


We went to Baltimore to share Christmas with Bud's brother and his family.  We have done this for many years and up until this year it was never a problem.  When we are planning to be gone for longer than just a weekend, we hire the services of professional (?) pet sitters to come to our home twice a day to feed the dogs, make sure they are well, give them attention and treats, make sure they have water and bring in the mail.  We have used the services of this man and his wife for more than a few years.  They have up until now been reliable, responsible and fulfilled their obligation.  I referred to them as friends because we have used their services for so long and because we think of them as more than mere acquaintances.  I am trying to convince myself since they have only failed in their obligation once in all these years, it is not such a terrible thing, but I am still very upset.


It snowed in the Triad area of North Carolina on Christmas Day for the first time since 1969.  It was one of those storms that came up from the south rather than across the mountains, so it had the potential to be seriously bad.  It also snowed ever so slightly in Maryland, and by slightly I mean it just barely covered the grass.  We checked the news and weather reports from Greensboro and knew our home was getting much more of the white stuff.  We had planned to stay in Maryland until Tuesday the 28th or Wednesday the 29th.  Since the 27th is Bud's birthday, we had plans to go out to dinner with Mike and Andee at P. F. Chang's (Bud's choice, but also one of my favorites).  On Sunday the 26th we received an early morning phone call from our pet sitters.  According to the wife, there were already 8" of snow and it was still snowing.  She said there had been numerous accidents the night before and she was not going to be able to get to our home to feed our dogs.  WHAT???  Don't tell me you can't feed my dogs when we have paid you to perform this service.  As professionals, did you not think weather might be an issue in the execution of your duties, and plan for it accordingly?  Does living in the south exclude you from acting like a responsible adult?  When I was still among the working population, I had a set time at which I was expected to be at my job.  That time did not include an exception during bad weather.  If I knew the weather was going to be bad, I prepared for it, and left my home earlier than normal so I might arrive at my destination ON TIME.  I'll admit, since I've moved to the south I was often the only one to arrive on time, and sometimes the only one to arrive at all.  But, I never expected anyone to do anything that I myself was not prepared to do as well.

Rather than let my dogs go without food on a snowy day when they would need additional fuel, we called some "real" friends who live not too far away and happen to own a 4-wheel drive vehicle (note to pet sitters -- think maybe one of these might be useful in your work?).  Bonnie and Jeff agreed to go over and feed our dogs, but we could not expect them to continue doing this as they had real livestock  (as in cows, horses, pigs, chickens, sheep, goats) to tend and the snow made it more time consuming for them.  So, we reluctantly packed up and made a hasty departure from Maryland.  I wish I could say this was done peacefully, but when I am upset, I am totally unreasonable and invariably say and do things I wish I had not said or done later.  Fortunately, Bud and I have been together so long, even our worst disagreements don't last very long, but I know I am a trial to him at times like this.


Though we made an agreement with Mike and Andee not to exchange presents between the grown-ups (the girls are adults but we still consider them kids), they got a GPS for us for Christmas.  We had a GPS a few years ago, but it was stolen from our car one day while we were in Camden Yard enjoying a baseball game.  That is another blog in and of itself.  As it turned out, the GPS was very useful in getting us home again.  We knew from checking the Weather Channel the storm was moving up the east coast and I-95/I-85 were smack in the middle of it.  Bud, being the Eagle Scout he is, decided we would go west and go down I-81 which was completely clear of any bad weather.  We had not been on I-81 since we went to visit my brother Joe when he lived in Tennessee around 1979.  But the GPS got us from Westminster, Maryland to I-81.  Of course, we didn't need any guidance on the highway, but getting from I-81 to Greensboro was a bit tricky.  Again, the GPS made it so easy even I could have done it (well, if I was allowed to drive, which I'm not).  We encountered only a few snowflakes falling from the sky (by a few I mean less than 50 individual flakes).  As we approached Greensboro, we could see significantly more and more snow, but all the roads were perfectly cleared.  We were worried that the road we live on would be a problem.  We live atop the highest elevation for miles around, and the incline uphill on our road is fairly steep.  There have been a few times we had trouble getting up the hill and one time we had to go several miles out of our way and sneak in the back way.  This time, however, the hill was not a problem at all, which only made me more wacky.  In fact, at our house, the total accumulation of snow was about 4½", NOT EVEN CLOSE TO 8".  The roads were clear and the worst part of the whole trip was getting up our driveway, but we still made it on the first try.


I was so pleased to see my babies and they were happy to see us and get in the house and out of the cold and wet.  On Tuesday, I offered to take Bud out to P. F. Chang's for his birthday but he said it wouldn't be any fun with just me.  I guess I'm getting old or something, but I understood that and didn't even get my feelings hurt.  We planned to leave again on Thursday to go to the mountains with the Webbs and the Hendersons for New Year's and as we had already paid the pet sitters for these visits as well, we just left the arrangements as they had been made.  We went to the mountains and had a splendiferous long weekend with our friends.  It rained while we were gone and all the snow has washed away.  There were no more incidents.


We will probably continue to use the same pet sitters in the future whenever we will be away on extended vacations.  Realistically, they have been reliable ALMOST all the time, so I guess I can allow them one strike.  Plus, I hate the concept of interviewing and searching for replacements.  Bud and I are no longer angry with each other.  I said something stupid to my brother-in-law and I need to call him to explain and apologize, but once that is done, the whole thing can be put away.  I hate drama.  But more than that, I hate thinking my babies have been abandoned.  So, yes, I'm a bit of a drama queen too.