“GET A PET AND YOU’LL GET PREGNANT.”

I can’t even count how many times someone told us to get a dog. Seriously!??! Well, if that’s the only way we’ll get pregnant – then I guess we’re never meant to have a child! Don’t get me wrong, I like dogs – I just don’t want one living in my house.

We’re not into superstitions, but nonetheless, we decided to go with the hype by trying it out and get a pet. What could it hurt, right? So, we bought a beautiful crowntailed beta fish that was looking so sad in it’s little plastic jar at the end of the aisle at Walmart. What a joy our little fishy was!

We got out the baby name book I bought at a garage sale for a quarter and searched and searched. We settled on a perfect name and it was 100% Italian, of course. Vincenzo Vitale Vincelli! Vincenzo means “conquering” and Vitale means “life.” It was our sign of how we’d “conquer life” and soon become pregnant with a little human of our own.

But years passed, with no pregnancy, and our dear sweet Vincenzo died in the fall of 2009. We gave him a nice burial “toss” out into the empty lot next to our home! Go ahead and throw out that theory. We learned that pregnancy isn’t guaranteed if you get a pet. (As if we really didn’t know that already.) If only it were that easy!