Things I Get To Say

Perspective is a funny thing.

For starters, I can’t even comprehend how it’s been so long since I’ve put paw to paper otherwise known as the keyboard. So much has happened.

My puppy brothers are so grown – Carter will soon be eight humans person’s years old. Conner will be six humans person’s years old shortly thereafter. It confuses my protective doggie mind.

But rather than recap what has been a strange, gratifying, happy, challenging, fulfilling, terrifying, strange last few years, let me tell you a few things I heard today that prompted me to break my silence on the interwebs.

I have to. I ought to. I get to.

It’s a prophetic theory attributed to this very wise human named Hyrum Smith. I’ve learned a lot about him and other wise humans in recent years thanks to my dear forever mom’s ever-evolving interest in personal growth and development.

Today I heard the familiar thoughts about how we have emotions that drive our mindset – something about moving feelings of fear to feelings of love along a continuum. I’m not 100 percent sure I understand how it works, but what I know for sure is it has to do something with gratitude, which is something I’m very familiar with.

It’s about seeing things through different lenses. It’s about seeing things through a different mindset.

It’s about seeing things as a blessing. Which it is – always.

Rather than thinking of things as something we have to do or something we ought to do, it’s about seeing things as something we get to do. That changes things.

I believe this with my whole doggie heart. Why?

I introduce to you the bedtime routine with my puppy brothers…a series of events that has evolved over time and has become the very living and breathing example of this “I get to” philosophy.

It hit me tonight as I heard something I’ve heard hundreds of times: I get you tonight, mom.

What does that mean?

Well, for the last few years, my forever humans have practiced this routine around bedtime when they rotate time with each other before everyone falls asleep. It seems like far more work to me – I would much rather do my thing in circling to find the perfect spot – preferably as close to my forever dad as possible – and stay there until morning.

For my puppy brothers, however, it happens to be a rotation between my forever mom and my forever dad. The rotation seems self-evident and continues to this night.

Tonight something struck me when Carter said it. Tonight, dear Carter said something I’ve heard so very many times from both him and Conner: I get you tonight, mom.

I get you tonight.

What a special thing for my people. I don’t know why it didn’t resonate with me sooner, but it sure did tonight. They get to spend time together before bedtime. They giggle and they snuggle and they read all kinds of stories and they love. They live. And it makes my heart happy.

To me, it is one of the most perfect, innocent, unintentionally thoughtful applications of that thought from the very wise Hyrum Smith about gratitude and mindset.

They get this chance. They get to make these memories. They get to spend this special time together.

And I get to document it here.

Perspective is a funny thing.

So much has changed. So much has happened. Yet here I am pondering one very important question yet again…

How blessed are we for these simple things?

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