It was recently pointed out to me that I do things that I want to do.This is true.

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I traveled to England and Italy and I learned to speak Italian (A decade ago I spoke middling conversational Italian, but now I am pretty rusty).

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I got a bachelor’s degree.

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I pulled together an art show that I could be proud of.

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I got a job. (Holy Beluga, I’m a geologist!)

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However, there is one thing I have wanted to do since I was a kid, but still haven’t done.
There is nothing I have wanted SO much for SO long
and NOT done:
Getting a dog.

I keep choosing not to get a dog because i have the dog’s best interest in mind.

While I was in college, I was often on campus for 12 or 13 hours at a time. I am not away for such long stretches anymore, but it has been many years since I had a yard to call my own. I live by myself in a small apartment. My dog would be a lonely dog, with late-night walks from a tired grumpy person.

That is no way for a dog to live.

So, for now, I visit dogs at other people’s houses,
and look at my old snapshots of my parents’ dogs…

… and decide to get a dog

… then decide I’m not ready yet, again.