OUR MORNING (TRUE STORY)

My 12 year old grandniece, GRACE is staying with me for the week to attend CAMP at the local YMCA. Showered, dressed, fed and packed up, GRACE asked to take "the other car" to camp today. Sure. No problem. Of course, CLOVER!!! joins us for the ride each day. The Counselors love to pet her, etc. Normally cars line up and a Counselor checks GRACE in and takes her from the car to her camp group. This morning we arrive to find that check-in is inside (threat of rain) - which means we have to park the car, stand in line and enter the building to check her in. UH OH..... we have CLOVER!!! What do I do? There is NO leash in this car (my bad) and it's far too hot to leave her in the car for even 5 minutes. Time to get creative....... We took GRACE'S TINY bathing suit top and tied it to CLOVER!!!'s collar, to act as a leash. That should work, right? OK - it's unfamiliar territory and CLOVER!!! is not particularly well leash trained yet (clearing my throat - "we're working on it") and she started out like a rocket, pulling on the bathing suit top, stretching it to the max (can you visualize this???). Unable to get her under good control, I decided pretty quickly that this was a bad idea. In addition, I worried about standing in line with all of the kids and adults (CLOVER!!! still jumps on people when she gets excited - We're working on that too.......). Oh my. Back to the car for a PLAN B. Let's untie the bathing suit top from CLOVER!!!'s collar first. Well, at this point, because she had pulled so hard on her "leash", the knot is IMPOSSIBLE to undo. Searching frantically for a sharp object to assist, we came up empty-handed. UGH. Finally, it's 10 min past the drop-off time, so I drive right up to the building, to the "NO PARKING SIGN" and park (RULES BREAKER!!). No one is in line anymore and kids are already dispersing with their Counselors. GRACE ran into the building and brought a Counselor out to the car to have me sign the check-in. Good security there - I like that! It's all good. CLOVER!!! and I are home, the bathing suit knot is now untied (thanks to a Phillips screwdriver) and it's only 9:30 AM. Who needs COFFEE with a start like that, right?!! ENJOY YOUR DAY! JOAN PS Do NOT ask why I didn't get a picture of this!