Monday, June 19, 2006

That's Mr. Alpha Dog to you!

Father's Day can be a little bit strange in our blended family.

My husband truly helped raise my daughter, whom he met as a teen-ager. I'm proud to say they are very close and he always has considered her his child also.

Together, we helped raise a foreign exchange student who now is in pharmacy school at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

And we have friends, who at various stages of their lives and our lives, can be more like family than friend.

Such was the conjunction of the planets on Father's Day 2006. A close friend spent the night to help us with some projects around the house. The daughter was happy with her other fathers and her new husband in Baton Rouge. We didn't hear from the student, which isn't all that unusual since he doesn't pay much attention to American holidays.

But we have our "children," the border collies.

They sent their Alpha Dog e-cards to announce their participation in the holiday. And on Father's Day morning, along with exquisite Honduran coffee on our newly improved, lushly landscaped patio, there were the border collies, showing up for their morning game.

But on this special day, they showed up wearing banners:

"Happy Father's Day!"

"We love you Dad."

And, in true border collie fashion:

"Our Dad has the best balls!"

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