The Rabbit

While thinking about the memories that Tom and I have had together in the almost 8 years that we have been married, I starting chuckling last night about our first date. I was living in an the in law suite attached to my parents house. I had my own kitchen and living room and front entrance. But I was uncomfortable with inviting my new date into the house. However, my parents were out of town and this was not our first meeting, just our first actual date. So, I welcomed him into my efficiency. I introduced him to my dog, my cats and my house. We sat down on couch and began small talk. The dog was very interested in my new date. She would not leave us alone. She was digging at the floor in front of my date, and very excited about the possibility that a bone, or something very exciting was under my new dates seat. I was a little embarrassed at her behavior, but got down on my hands and knees and reached under the couch to help the dog out. This got her very excited. The anticipation of her treat that was under the couch was too much for her and it was too far away for me to get. So my new date kindly offered to lift the couch so that I could get further under to get the dog her treat and hopefully she would leave us alone. After all, we were just getting to know each other and did not need the dog to be behaving hysterically while trying to talk about life. So, my new date lifted up the couch and I crawled under....What I saw was unreal. Under the couch in my living room, was a dead rabbit! I was speechless. There was no getting out of this one. The dog was now out of her mind with excitement, but still could not get to the "treat" My date had no idea what I had just seen, but I could not just leave it there. I scooted out from under the couch, calmly grabbed the dog and put her outside. I then told my date, that there was a dead rabbit under the couch... how it got there, I will never know. My date acted as if this was an everyday occurrence for him and asked where we kept our garbage bags, plain and simple. I exclaimed that he did not have to do this, that I would take care of it. He insisted, he moved the couch and collected the remains of the rabbit. It was not injured or old, and we will never know how it got under my couch. We had a good amount of land and often had rabbits in the yard. I suppose that one of them had gotten chased into the house by one of the cats through the cat door or porch and ran and hid and was too afraid to come out... and simply died. I was so embarrassed, the thought my new date finding a dead animal in my living room and still going on a date with me, and then eventually marrying me still makes me giggle. Can you imagine what he told his friends the next day about his date??? This is the story of our relationship! We have so many unique things that happen to us on our journey together, and through it all, we giggle, cry and get angry but in the end, we continue our date!