Growing up & moving on

Some days it seems like all Chama does while we're at work is grow. Sometimes it seems she grows in a lopsided fashion - legs one week so she looks really tall for the size of the rest of her body, then maybe her head the next week so she looks like she's all head and no body. She is growing fast, though, and it seems to even out after awhile. She was almost 30 pounds when we took her to the vet the last time, and I would guess she is close to 40 by now.  She's a very healthy eater, although we've been very vigilant about not giving her any table scraps whatsoever.  It's too late to break Che of that totally (he just steals things off the counter), but so far we've done well with Chama - only dog food, bones, and treats.

Chama has apparently entered dog adolescence. You know, when she thinks none of the rules apply to her, that she doesn't have to sit (or insert any command) when instructed, that she's smarter than everyone else, but all the while very confident that she's still very cute and can get away with everything. This last part usually works with P (who hugs her and says "¡Qué belleza!" about 300 times a day, regardless of whatever barbaric deed she has committed), but not so much with me. I do, of course, adore her as well. I really get a kick out of how she sits on Che. She has been doing this since the day she came home with us. Che is so patient and doesn't seem to mind unless she starts gnawing on his face.  (I do not have a picture of this seating arrangement yet but will post one as soon as I am able to get a good shot.)

We are now under 6 months from our departure from Venezuela, which means that a countdown of sorts has begun. We're not actually counting down the days, but we now have to start getting everything ready to leave, including an extensive inventory of our belongings (and junk) to decide what to keep, sell, donate, or throw, getting the dogs and their paperwork ready for departure, thinking about a place to stay in DC starting in January, using up our consumables, and mentally preparing ourselves for another move. I will be ready to leave Venezuela, but it will still be sad to say good-bye. I often compare Foreign Service life to college - you live and work and play with/near the same people, it's an intense and growthful experience, and you make deep friendships fast. Then your tour is over and you have to go out and face the big world without the physical presence of the support system you've spent the last two years building. Luckily there is a larger support system that is the entire FS to help you transition (and transition and transition), but all the same, you have to learn to depend on new people every couple years. I am looking forward to the post when I am reunited with close friends from previous posts, but that may take some years still.

In really exciting news under this same theme of growing up and moving on, my youngest sister graduates from high school this week.  She'll head to the U of M this fall to start her own exciting college adventure.  We're so proud of her and can't wait to see her get her diploma!