A Dog's Life

Madison turns 11 this month. Not sure how that happened. How can my granddaughter be an age that I can still remember? 

That's just wrong.

Anyhoo, I just hope her birthday celebration goes better than when she turned 5. 

"OH MY GOD! I am so EXCITED," my daughter, Kayla said. "We're taking Madison and her friend Alexis to Knott's Berry Farm for her birthday."

Now, Kayla didn't have much money when Madison turned 5. So, I know this trip was a sacrifice for her. Some bills would go unpaid, I felt sure.

But, clearly, she was happy to do it. OH MY GOD.

"She's gonna JUST DIE, Mom!" Kayla yelled into the phone. "They do this thing at Knott's Berry Farm with Snoopy, Charlie Brown...all THOSE guys."

I guess buying jam there wasn't excitement enough anymore.

"We got her the birthday package and Snoopy... wait till you hear this, Mom...you'll JUST DIE," she assured me. "Snoopy COMES TO THE HOTEL ROOM with games, and food, and he PLAYS WITH THE KIDS! She's gonna be so SURPRISED!"

I gotta admit. I thought that was pretty much the bees knees myself. What kid wouldn't go apeshit crazy over that kind of thing?

Over the next couple of weeks, I talked to Kayla frequently about Madison's upcoming shindig. The closer it got the more excited she got. And, me too. Nothing like a double dose of happy, when your daughter and your granddaughter are OH MY GOD so excited.

The weekend finally arrived - off they went. I could barely contain myself. I couldn't wait for them to get back home so I could get the Snoopy scoop from Madison.

A decent interval passed. I called.

"OH MY GOD, Madison!" I felt gleeful. "How much FUN did you have?"

"It was REALLY fun, Mimi." Madison said. 

I waited. Nothing else.

"Well, what all did you do there? Was it so AWESOME?"

"Ummm....yeah...me and Alexis rode the log ride thing, and the water slide thing, and the REALLY FAST roller coaster thing."

Nothing else.

"And?" I prodded. What the hell happened with Snoopy?

"Oh, and we got REALLY BIG SUCKERS." Madison said. "The REALLY REALLY BIG kind. Those were cool."

Silence. Nothing else.

Oh no. Something must've happened. Maybe Snoopy got the flu. I didn't want to say anything to Madison though because OH MY GOD she'd JUST DIE if she thought she'd missed him.

"Okay, well..." I muttered. "I'm so happy you had such a great time..."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Madison said. "There was this really weird guy dressed up like a dog that came to our room and ate all our pizza. What a dork."

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