Spending time in Memphis this weekend was lovely. We got the chance to go to some of my fave restaurants, visit some old friends, see both ‘rents and just relax.

And it was really nice to chill, though my mother’s dog made things interesting.

Callie the Golden Retriever is about 3.5 years old. I helped raise her during my Christmas break right after we got her. I won’t say that I am the reason she is potty-trained, but I did play a role in making sure she made it into the backyard whenever she needed to pee.

She’s a sweetheart who loves everyone. She has never bitten anyone and is always nice to guests — we are convinced she thinks they are HER new friends, not ours. She even knows when people are are not feeling well. But I learned something new about her this weekend — she is extremely protective.

My mom goes to bed most nights around 9:30 p.m. The boy and I, obviously, stay up later than that and would hang out in the den watching TV and talking.

It was all good until Callie decided that she was going to monitor us. (Yes, you read that right).

Friday night, we were sitting in the couch watching Fantasia and she kept barking at us. Usually when she does this, she wants attention, but she wouldn’t stop. And when she finally calmed down, she sat at the foot of the couch. Whenever one of us would make a noise — whether we would speak softly or I would kiss his cheek — she would pop her head up and look at us, clearly taking inventory of the situation and sometimes growling deep in her throat.

When the boy got up to go to bed, Callie stood up less than a minute later and made her way back to my mother’s bedroom, her job done.

We laughed about it yesterday morning and didn’t think much about it until last night, when we were hanging out in the guest bedroom after the wedding. We were sitting next to each other and chatting and had closed the door so Callie wouldn’t jump on the bed. Well, she stood outside of the door and whimpered until we let her in a few minutes later.

Once in the room, she hopped up in the bed and curled up next to me, barking whenever I would stop petting her. We both paid attention to her while still talking about the wedding and quite a few other things.

And when I leaned over to give the boy a goodnight kiss? Callie made the weirdest noise I have ever heard her make — it sounded like a growl, but it was more threatening. And the boy thought she was going to bite him.

I immediately hopped up and tried to get Callie to come with me into my bedroom, and after a little convincing, she finally hopped off the bed and followed me into my room.

More than anything else, it was really strange seeing my dog being ridiculously protective of me. She didn’t do this the first time the boy came to visit. And she never does this whenever my sister has her boyfriend over to the house. So why me and why now?

I guess I will never know for sure, but I am positive this will make future visits home with the boy interesting.