The New Pet

It's always interesting to go on vacation with your kids. Spending a lot of time with them really allows you to know what's going on in their heads.

What's going on in my teenage daughter's head is a desire to own more pets. "Mom," she said. "My friend has a pet hedgehog."

"That's nice," I said.

She put her iPhone in front of my face. "Here's a picture of it puking up peas. It's so cute. Can I get one?"

I gave her one of my sideways looks. "No."

"What about a pocket pet? I've always wanted one of those."

"What's a pocket pet?" I asked.

"Those things we saw at the mall. They look like flying squirrels."

"No. Absolutely no flying squirrels!"

She must've figured she wasn't going to get any new adorable fur balls, so she stopped the discussion.

Later, my family and I stopped at a restaurant called Cracker Barrel. It's one of those places that has a gift shop inside. When we were about to leave, my husband said he had to do something and he'd meet us at the car. I figured that meant a trip to the restroom.

We waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, I went back in to see if he had gotten lost. I found him. He had just finished checking out, and he had a package under his arm.

"What's that?" I asked.

He handed it to me. I looked inside.

It was our new pet. A pig. Her name is Petunia. And she's very nice. She even walks and wiggles her nose. The good news is, she doesn't fly or puke up peas. I think we'll keep her.