We got married on July 21, 2012. Two weeks later we moved almost 2,000 miles across the country. From the hilly Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi. Shane (my husband) and I had never lived anywhere outside of the state of Iowa before, and I had never lived more then a 20 minute drive away from my family and friends. Living in Mississippi was a blast. It was so different from living in the Midwest, the atmosphere, the weather, the southern charm, and the smells of the ocean breeze. Oh, and the food, yes the food was amazing! Even with all of the great smells, food, ocean and southern hospitality, we felt like there was something missing. Shane would go off to work everyday, and I would clean, walk to the beach and go to the library. I read my fair share of books while I was down there, and our apartment was spotless. However there is only so much you cleaning and reading one can do. I was bored all the time. Going to the beach was boring by myself.
So with a lot of talking and discussion, Shane and I decided to get a dog. We went to the Humane Society and looked at all of the dogs, unfortunately the first time that we went there was only like two dogs available, so we went home empty handed. About 2 weeks later we went back. We were looking at the puppies, because Shane wanted a younger dog. We still had no luck. I convinced Shane to look at the other dogs because I didn't want to go home empty handed again.
That's when I came across this 1 and 1/2 year old boxer. He looked at me with his big bold brown eyes, and wrinkly forward. He started whining, it didn't sound like a normal dog whine, it sound more like a pathetic baby pretending to cry. He was so adorable that I could help but smile. I showed Shane, and he edmeditally smiled too. We found one of the volunteers, and they took him out of the kennel. We were able to play with him for a couple minutes, just enough time for him to pee on both of us. Both of us were head over heels for him,despite the pee.
We brought him home and the next day was the first day that I enjoyed going to the beach. Rocky and I walked to the beach that next morning right after shane went to work. Which was before the sun was even up. I am not at all a morning person, but that morning there was an amazing sunset right over the beach wait for Rocky and I. From that day on Rocky would not let me sleep in, and we walked to the beach. Watching the sunrise became our daily ritual.
We moved back to Iowa early the next year, that's when Rocky saw snow for the first time. Rocky wasn't fond of snow, until he found out it was just water, then we couldn't get him to stop licking it.
So, once again I am going to say Happy Birthday Rocky!!
