Living the Life (Of Dreams) July 5, 2014

It has been said that when a door closes, a window opens. As your resident doggie optimist, it’s one of those philosophies to which I bow my heart. But today I got a breath of fresh air. Today I got a real-life reminder of the truth that is finding the silver lining in even the saddest of situations.

Today I saw Penny, the neighborhood sweetheart otherwise known as a cat. I know what you’re thinking. It goes against every grain of normalcy for her and I to get along. Yet we do. Something in her resonates with me. And today I was reminded why.

Today was the first time I’ve seen her since her forever owner Rose died a few months ago. It was a sad day in my life hearing the news, so I couldn’t imagine what it was like for dear fragile feline Penny. Well, it turns out I had things all wrong. Because poor Penny has not been so poor these days. Quite the contrary, in fact. Though she loved Rose with all of her being, she is happier now than I’ve ever seen her. She has basically become the pet of the neighborhood, the talk of the town if you will.

While no one has officially adopted her, she hasn’t needed adopting. The neighborhood has thrown their proverbial hearts around this dear little creature, by providing her home(s) if she needs as well as plenty of food and love. I know it’s different for her now than it was with Rose, but (at least from what I can tell) it’s just as fabulous.

It just goes to show how far you can go on what might look like nothing sometimes. When she lost Rose, I thought for sure she would be lost. Instead she is thriving and happier than ever. I know this for sure since I’ve seen a lot of it around my forever home recently too. It’s taken some time since we experienced loss around here. Mom lost her favorite job and her father within a couple of weeks ago five years ago already. But I see it every day now and it brings me the sincerest sense of joy.

From the ground up, it happens when a door closes even it if takes a while to find that opened window. I saw it today as mom and dad enjoyed some steamed mussels in chicken broth on the patio in my backyard paradise. They were relaxing after taking a swim in the neighbor’s pool. Their beach towels were drying nearby. And all was well in our world. All is well in our world. We are living the life of dreams.

 

 

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Just Another Day July 6, 2013

Sleep. Eat. Play. Repeat. I realized it while I laid in the sun for who knows how long this afternoon. Some days in a dog’s life are utterly uneventful. There’s nothing spectacular happening around the house. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary in the backyard. No abnormal weather events or exciting visitors. No excursions out of the house. Just another day in a dog’s life.

Today I caught myself somewhat bitterly contemplating the possibilities, all of which seemed more exciting than the absolute nothing I was doing. I heard my forever parents discussing different ideas of things to do outside (some involving me, others not). Meanwhile my heart raced every time they thought they were sneaky spelling out w-a-l-k, as if I don’t know what that spells. (Sometimes it surprises me how little credit they give me in the smarts department.)

None of their well-intentioned plans came to pass. Instead, I half-watched half-slept through them doing various tasks around the house. Dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the kitchen…didn’t they just do all this a few days ago?

Then it happened. Mom left dad and I alone to go to something called a concert with a friend of hers and the afternoon took a turn for adventure. Dad took me for a walk (which is even more exciting since that’s usually something I only do with mom), then we played catch outside, and some more in the house. Cuddle time came after that as we sat on the couch watching all the shows on the moving picture window mom doesn’t care for (mostly involving cars). It was a night to remember.

In the grand scheme of things, the night I had with dad was more of the same nothingness of the day. We didn’t do anything that spectacular (other than the walk which even I have to admit got pretty hot pretty fast), other than simply enjoying each other’s company. Some days are like that. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary happens. Instead it’s just par for the course. Just another day in a dog’s life. What a blessing that is! When I find myself feeling bitter about these moments of peace, I am going to remember today and embrace the possibilities that lie in what may be disguised as nothingness. Because as American singers Simon and Garfunkel put it, “I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.”