WAW...Again, Part III

[stumps]

Well, vacation homecoming went about as well as could be expected. Great enthusiastic welcome home with the kids. W was decidedly cooler, but warm enough given our sitch. She mentioned a few times how good it was to be home... that's good enough for me. Got a couple of hugs in there too, and W remarked how thoughtful I was for bringing food to the airport for everyone and for keeping the house clean etc. while they were gone. Got another nice hug after we crawled into bed too. Seems kind of weird to be doing inventory like this...but I'm always looking for signs that I'm on the right path and this type of accounting helps so...

It seems like we are pretty much in the same place we were before W left for vacation. I'll take that. Her spirit/demeanor don't seem to suggest an impending 2nd bomb-drop so...I'll take that too.

One interesting development... W has been talking non-stop about getting a dog since she got back and we spent a good part of last night and this morning looking at potential adoptees. Apparently someone at the vacation house had a dog there for the week, and it really got W into "we need a dog" mode. It's the way she is talking about it that I find interesting...saying things like "we could take her hiking, and to the beach" etc. Definitely seems to be a "we" thing. I'm all for it. I grew up with dogs and love them more than humans in many (if not most!) cases. But I feel about it sort of the same way I feel about bringing babies into the world...it might not be such a great idea if the relationship ain't too solid... like, if we're not going to stay together, who gets the dog? Are her parents going to let her have it at their house if she moves in with them. Will I be able to find a place where I can have it if I have to get my own place? Basically, how will it be taken care of if we're not in a situation where at least one of us will always be around?

So, I'm not sure if I should discuss all of this with her... or just say to heck with it and let all of that sort itself out if it comes to it. I feel like this is a delicate situation... I don't want to put a damper on her enthusiasm or rain on her parade or anything, and I would love to have dog. But I don't want to be playing around with another being's life either. I think too many people enter too lightly into pet ownership...and I 100% do not want to find myself in a sitch where we're having to give up a dog that we committed to taking care of because we split up and neither one of us could keep it.

I don't know...maybe talking about my concerns with W would provide an opportunity to gauge where she is with "us". That's something I've refrained from doing so far. Not sure how to proceed here...