Strange Pets

I just want to start this post by saying that I will no longer apologize for how long it has taken me to post. I read the book "My Life in France" by Julia Child and I appreciated that she said that she cooked a terrible meal for a friend one time but made a point not to apologize. I laughed at that and realized I apologize too much. Life is what it is and things aren't always perfect and now I have a new resolution to stop apologizing for everything.
With that, I will tell what I wanted to in this post. We live in an apartment that doesn't allow pets. This has not been the easiest thing for my family as Alex and I are both pet lovers and our children seem innately to have the same affection. Anna sees animals at the park and is always determined to pet them. Thank goodness the owners are usually generous enough to share. However, our boys have really been asking in earnest when we can get a dog. We had Jerry/Geri who had met an untimely demise and they are lonely for a furry friend. To show how sad this situation has become, while visiting a friend Mark starting digging under her flagstones in the garden and came out with 2 slugs and 1 worm. He asked to take them home and I agreed. On the way he started telling me that these were his pets. He said that since he couldn't have a dog or a cat, he would settle for slugs and worms. Now, likely even if we did have a dog or cat, Mark would still collect slugs, snails, worms, etc., but it seemed so sad to hear him desperate enough to think he had to settle for such things in place of a more cuddly animal!