Mononucleosis--commonly know as "mono" or "the kissing disease"--got its name because it is usually spread by person-to-person contact via kissing. With saliva being the primary method of transmitting the disease, and mono's prevalence among teenagers, kissing is assumed to be the most common way to spread the ailment. A person with mono could also pass the disease by coughing or sneezing, or sharing food or beverages from the same container, so kissing isn't the only way to get it.
My wife, Lori, was in high school when she was stricken with mono. She has always been the kind of person who has to be doing something all of the time. When mono took her out of school and she had a lot of time on her hands, she read everything she could find to pass the time productively. Back then, there was no cable TV, internet, or cell phones to occupy time.
Lori remembers having a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast one morning and reading the label on the classic tubular container from the Quaker Oats Company. She recalls noticing a word game contest where the prize was a Scottish Terrier puppy. Contestants had to create the most words that could be made using only the letters in the Quaker Oats slogan--"Nothing is better for thee than me." The top 10 entries would each win a Scottie Dog puppy from the Quaker Oats guy!
Lori likes knowledge, likes challenges, and loves animals. She was home, sick, with nothing to pass the time, so she decided to go through the dictionary and see which of the hundreds of thousands of words could be spelled using only the letters in the slogan.
Days were spent scouring her copy of Webster's dictionary. She finally submitted her entry into the contest. She was satisfied with the thousands of words written on loose leaf paper, and confident that there couldn't be 10 more ambitious people in the world who wanted a Scottish Terrier puppy and had the time to do what she did to try to win.
Weeks became months. Every day there was no official prize notification waiting for her in the mail when she came home from school. Time went by, and she came to the realization that there must have been 10 more ambitious people in the world who found at least one more word than she did. Otherwise, she would have received her prize--the Scottie Dog puppy.
The contest was forgotten, she finished school, and married me.
Then one day, five years later, out of the blue, her mother sent her a letter. This was something out of character for Lori's mom. We talked and visited all the time, and lived in the same town. There was no reason for her to send us anything in the mail. But there it was, a piece of mail from her mom--not around her birthday, anniversary, or other event. What could it be?
Lori opened the envelope. Inside, in the bottom corner, was a little piece of paper, ripped from the local shopper publication. It was an ad that said "Scottish Terrier puppies for sale".
Suddenly, her head was filled with memories of having mono, the oatmeal, the Quaker Oats guy, the dictionary, all those words, and the prize she didn't win. Why did her mom send the ad?
Immediately, she thought that she did in fact win that contest, but because she was a minor, her parents would have had to approve of the animal as a prize, and for whatever reason, they decided it wasn't a good idea.
Or, her mom knew how badly she wanted the dog, realized how responsible she had become, and remembered how sad she was over not winning--after putting in so much effort--that the ad triggered the memory, and compelled her to send it to her daughter.
Either way, she answered the ad and we bought our first Scottish Terrier. The breed has become such a part of our family, that we have always had Scottie Dogs. We have had 5 Scottish Terriers over the years--recently we've had them in pairs. Our current resident pet is "Gilbert". His buddy "Reggie" passed away in March. We used them as our mascots and welcoming committee. We also have their likenesses on the sign in front of our business--the
Munro House Bed and Breakfast in downtown Jonesville, Michigan.
Gilbert is getting old, but he is in good health. He has never been alone. So we may be in the market for another Scottish Terrier. I do not want a puppy, so we are keeping in touch with Scottish Terrier Rescue sites on the internet to see if there is an available adult dog that could be a good match for us. Our sign depicts 2 dogs, so the decision is coming up on whether to add a second dog, or consider them a mirror image of just one Scottish Terrier.
Mike Venturini - Innkeeper
"Life is good in Jonesville"
