Here we are, on a lovely, warm, sunny, fall afternoon in northern Illinois. And I’m in one of my favorite places to be; a coffeehouse. Though not long-term really, I’m just here for the latte. Oh and the WiFi of course. So what else would I do but write, right?
One of the the adjustments I’ve had to make since I had to have Sophie put down (pour one out to a great dog) was that I essentially quit walking around the neighborhood. And that was purely my choice. It felt completely foreign to me, the thought of walking around a neighborhood where, in all seriousness, more people knew Sophie’s name than mine. I say that matter-of-factly too. It’s far easier and much less awkward for someone to walk up to a stranger and say “what’s your dog’s name?” than it is to ask that question of the person walking said dog.
And so, a lot of the people we’d met over the course of the last three years haven’t heard of Sophie’s shuffle off this canine coil. I don’t know if “canine coil” is a thing btw, but I took a little literary license, so…
That kind of bothered me too, since she was quite popular around the hood. But, as it was easier on me, well, that’s just how it went.
Until a couple weeks ago.
One of my neighbor’s asked me if I’d help her son with his daily walk of their dogs around the neighborhood after he got out of school. Of course, I said yes.
A.) they’re excellent people
B.) I’m happy to help (usually)
C.) I figured it would be a good way for me to get over a mild case of mopery.
And so, these two knuckleheads became a semi-regular part of my routine-
Oscar and Chalupa are my new walk buddies, along with their human boy child. We have a lovely walk in the afternoon and typically discuss human boy child things. Not Oscar and Chalupa btw, the human boy child and I. Just to clarify. And I have to say I have enjoyed this time immensely. Even though I was a little rusty on the whole “leash” thing, since Soph hasn’t used one in years, and even before that, when she had a leash on, I typically let it drag behind her rather than hang on to it. She was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a flight risk.
Brief detour; did you notice anything different yet? I’ll wait. Go ahead, take a look around this post. And think about my last post.
Back to dog-related issues…
So, I’m actually dog sitting these two this weekend while their aforementioned excellent people are out-of-town and I must say it’s been a blast. I’m not about to start a dog-walking gig or anything like that, but I’ve had fun. Today, for example, as the fellas and I were walking, I had synapses firing ideas back and forth most of the time we were out. Nothing Pulitzer worthy, but if you’ve ever read my stuff, you knew that already, amirite? Technically I think the very existence of “amirite” eliminates me from Pulitzer consideration. At any rate, as we walked I watched the two of them; Chalupa marching along with dogged (see what I did there?) determination, like a sled dog pulling towards the finish line of the Iditarod while Oscar plugs along, his stubby, little, cankles churning like a four-legged centipede, trying to keep up. They’re quite the couple, these two. They make me laugh a little and smile a lot.
That’s not to be underrated either. Especially of late. Too much stuff happening in our world today that is the antithesis of happy. And I’m not going to go any deeper into that. Just yet.
But in the interim, as I said before, I’m in a really good place and I intend to ride this wave as long as I can. Because we all know how short life can be.
Peace
PS- Because, well, you know… Yes! I conquered the Word Press beast! Take that (expletive deleted)!!!