Ode to the Best Idea We Ever Had...

And no, I'm not talking about having kids...the jury's still out on that one. Ha ha, just kidding!

I'm talking about a decision my sister Amber and I made a couple of years ago. We were living in an apartment--well, Mario and I were living in an apartment, and because a short term can-I-stay-with-you-for-just-a-little-while-to-save-money thing had somehow turned into a permanent situation, Amber was inhabiting what we had once fleetingly hoped would be a guest bedroom. As crazy as my sister and I have always made each other, it is incomprehensible that we managed it in that apartment for a year. I'm not quite sure how it came to be that when we each decided it was time to buy a house, those houses would be next door to each other. I guess somehow making that GIANT PURCHASE together made it less scary, and somehow the circumstances just worked out...we found new construction we both liked, in a convenient neighborhood, for (what seemed at the time) a good price, and because we were the first to buy on our street, we were able to pick our (identical, but flipped) floor plans on the adjoining lots of our choice.

Cheesey, I know. But wow, is it great. This week I was reminded of how great it was. The other morning Mario went out, as he normally does, to walk the puppies on the large expanse of BLM land that we live next to. Squidge was being fussy, fussy, fussy, and it seemed like it was taking Mario forever to get back. The longer he was gone, the more pissy I got, really wanting him to come home and take the fussbudget off of my hands for a few minutes before he went to work. After awhile though, as the time he normally would have returned came and went, my annoyance turned into worry. As I sat rocking Squidge and worrying, all of a sudden at the front door I heard a little peeping noise. When I threw the door open, there was Xiao Gou...alone...without a leash...just sitting there looking pathetic.

Now, I knew he had probably somehow gotten away from Mario (he usually lets them off their leashes for awhile because there is never anyone around up there), but I couldn't hold back the fear that something had happened to my husband or our other dog Nika. Semi-panicking, I ran next door and plopped the baby into my sister's arms (she was thankfully willing to help even though she was about to be late for the class she teaches two days a week at UNR) and took off running up the hill calling for Mario. Thankfully, within a few minutes I could hear him across the canyon, frantically calling for Xiao Gou. It turned out that the pups had run off because they encountered a HUGE herd of deer on the hill...Mario counted at least 20!!!! A coyote was lurking around after the deer too. What normal dog could resist that kind of distraction? Xiao Gou had somehow gotten lost and instead had turned around and came home.

As Mario and Nika and I tramped home through the snow together (my burning lungs pointing out precisely how out of shape I am!), and as we retrieved Scarlett from my sister, I thought again about how convenient it is to have a close family member CLOSE, in so many situations. If she hadn't been there to help me, Mario would have been out searching forever, and I would have been completely panicked. There are a lot of things I have regretted about this house purhase. Buying at the height of the market...not standing up more to our jerk builder...certain upgrades...choosing a lot with the Great Rock Wall of Reno towering threateningly over us (we have a 30+ foot rock wall in our backyard)...but I have never regretted having my sister for a neighbor. Eventually, when I finish my PhD and go on the national job market, Mario and Squidge and I will have to move away and we will doubtlessly never have such an opportunity again. So in the meantime, I'm going to keep being grateful!