Marshawn

Marshawn

At the beginning of the year we ~~adopted~~ fostered an adorable bearded dragon. Marshawn came into our lives shortly after a high school friend posted pictures of her new beardie on Facebook. I was sitting next to Avery (who’s been asking for a lizard for years) when I scrolled past the picture and paused. He was so cute wrapped in a furry blanket! I showed Avery, and thus began a conversation about possibly looking for one. The following day while walking with my neighbor, who is vet, and I asked about her knowledge of bearded dragons. Two days later a friend of hers, who was moving out of the country, contacted her asking if she knew of anyone who might want a – you guessed it – bearded dragon! They could have it and all the gear for free, she just wanted him to go to a good home. Next thing we knew Avery and I were at her house cuddling with the thing and then loading his tank into the back of our car. You can imagine Jonathan’s face when he walked in the door!

Marshawn was super cute, funny, and overall a pretty cool pet. Avery enjoyed caring for him and didn’t need much prompting to do so. But there were a couple hangups. For one, reptiles can be stinky. Not bad, but just kind of reptilian. And Marshawn’s tank was a few feet from Avery’s bed. Furthermore, they can carry Salmonella, and after a little more research, we started to feel less okay about having him roaming the house with Layla around (children under five can be more severely affected by Salmonella). Then we serendipitously adopted a puppy, (I’ll get into that in my next post) which further complicated our lives and to-do lists.

Fortunately there was an easy solution. Shortly after adopting Marshawn, my friend, Jacqui, came over with Hayden & Brooklyn to meet him. She said Brooklyn had been lobbying for a bearded dragon for years so she was excited to meet him. The stars seemed to align perfectly. When the honeymoon wore off for our family, we knew where he should go, so we asked, and the Lotts took Marshawn in. I’m so happy with the way this all worked out. Avery got to have his fun with the little guy and appreciate the work involved, and then we got to send him on his merry way to a home that would appreciate him even more!