The One Where Mosby and I Have Easter Lunch (Andy)

Happy Easter! 

It's been over two weeks since Kerry left Kenya to go back for the baby, which means I've been spending almost all of my time either working or hanging out with Mosby. I always have these lofty ambitions for projects every time Kerry goes out of town: build something, write more songs, do a lot of reading. I never actually seem to accomplish any of this (I'm not entirely sure why) and these few weeks flying solo have been no exception.

So I found myself with a surprise four day vacation this past Easter weekend. Easter is a big deal in Kenya and they get both Good Friday and the Monday following Easter as Federal holidays, which means by proxy, the US Embassy gets that vacation time, too. Most everyone in my neighborhood took advantage of the long weekend except me. Since my main focus these days is getting home before the baby is born, I chose not to stray to far from base camp. 

But, that's no reason to be anti-social. A colleague and his wife were having some people over for lunch on Easter Sunday and were kind enough to invite Mosby and I, and I readily excepted on our behalf. There was some apprehension on my part in bring Mosby along because the house we were going to had four dogs currently living there and I wasn't sure how the Mo' would do. But I thought it would be good for him to socialize with dogs from another neighborhood.

As some of our readers may recall, Mosby isn't a huge fan of riding in the car. I always believed it was just a problem with motion sickness but I found out on Sunday the real reason: he's just terrified of the experience. And why shouldn't he be, I ask, given his understanding of what the car does. His first experience in it was when we picked him up from the village and took him away from his family (note: while I doubt he would argue, if he could, that the move was anything but positive, it still was a rather traumatic experience). Other trips include going to the vet for various probes, prodings, and snips. 

Since he would not get into the car voluntarily, I picked him up and put him in the passenger seat next to me. He maintained the same awkward sitting position most of the ride until we had to make a detour onto a dirt road, at which time he jumped across me and pinned himself between me and the drivers side door. We arrived at our destination a few minutes later and the resident dogs began circling our car, snapping Mosby to attention and beginning his series of growls and barks. 

The next ten minutes were slightly tense; a lot of barking, a few snaps and lunges, and some hasty retreats. Mosby settled down once he was able to get a sniff around the perimeter and then once all the food came out. An uneasy truce manifested itself over the dog community for the rest of the time, violated only once over an argument over a bone, but then quickly reinstated.  

Because I was constantly watching Mosby to ensure he didn't do anything stupid, I couldn't fully enjoy myself at lunch, but had a great time nonetheless. However, despite being Easter, it still felt like just another day standing between me and home. But until then, I've decided to take on another project: getting Mosby comfortable with the car. I'll let you know how I do.