This is our Ralphie, the day after my daughter’s 1970s party last weekend. Ralphie was the life of the party. Ralphie thought that he had died and gone to Heaven having that many people swimming in the pool with him at one time. He showed off his cannonball and diving skills for anyone who asked him to – which was everyone. When the kids created a dance circle, Ralphie happily took his turn in the middle of the circle, and chased his own tail for at least one minute straight (a natural high). Ralphie then decided to track and to chase down the flashing disco lights, in his usual, seriously focused, hunting dog style. In short, Ralphie knows how to party. I hope that no matter how much fun that you may have gotten around to last night, you are not experiencing Ralphie’s after party burnout this morning. But if you are, it will pass and hopefully, it was worth it!
“Life is short, wear your party pants.” – Loretta LaRoche
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I have two dogs. They were born on the exact same day in May, exactly one year apart. Ralphie, our Dudley yellow Labrador is a little over two and Josie, our tri-color Collie is a little over one. They are both wonderful creatures.
Ralphie is over-the-top, in your face exuberance and intensity. He is smart as a whip, lead hopelessly by his bear-sized nose, and constantly on the move, unless he is entirely passed out. Still he keeps his fervor going by swimming in his sleep. When he gives kisses, they are full, wet and all encompassing. His huge tongue is like a wash cloth you would use to wash your car, and with a few passionate licks, he has managed to cover your whole face, your ears and your neck. He is not at all protective, he would definitely have the “flight” tendency in a “fight or flight” scenario. He is so absolutely and completely in-tuned to us, his family and to himself. Every night, he comes to the couch, where my husband and I are sitting, to remind us that it is his bedtime by lying his head on one of our knees.
Josie is elegance, sweetness and perkiness all wrapped up in the package of a beautiful, warm, fluffy dog. My daughter calls her the teddy bear. I liken her to a giant Pomeranian. She is a cuddle-bug, with a capital C. Her licks are dainty, with her small gentle tongue barely darting out of her mouth as she “cleans” your hands, much like a cat. She lays with her front legs crossed, very lady-like, even when she is deep in sleep. She is always alert to dangers, warning us, dependably, of the impending doom of the Amazon delivery person or the pack of squirrels living in our trees.
Walking the dogs every night is interesting. Ralphie always has his nose to the ground. He is on a mission and seemingly unaware of anything other than what he is tracking with his stoutly snuffer. Josie, being a herding dog, has her head on a swivel, only occasionally indulging in the scents on the ground which Ralphie is likely to roll around in, if he feels any slack in the leash. Josie always greets the other dogs, ducks, and deer that we see regularly, pertly, prettily, excitedly, with her beautiful, fluffy tail swishing elegantly as she gives each and every creature we meet, a delighted, buzzing look as if to say, “Isn’t life just grand?!?”
The dogs are a perfect yin yang to each other. Josie loves playing life guard to Ralphie, as he does his Navy seal routine, treading water and swimming in our pool tirelessly. She runs around the pool, watching him, barking warnings when she thinks that he is too tired and should get out of the pool. Josie is the first to bark warnings of impending visitors to our home. Ralphie loyally follows behind her, looking confused and bewildered, hackles up, sounding out the occasional deep “Woof!” to back her up (to which fight he is not at all sure), his formidable size and intense stare, enough to sometimes get people to forget, that he is just a big, goofy Lab, easily won over to anyone who offers a pat or a treat.
We adore our dogs. Our sons are all coming home this weekend, all with the same sentiment, “We miss the dogs.” Our dogs are so uniquely themselves. They don’t try to change or to be something different than who they inherently are to the core. They don’t try to be like each other. They adore our family, each other and life, sharing toys and playful romps with exuberance and yet restraint. Animals have so much to teach of us about living life. Ralphie and Josie, are my friends, companions, inspiration, comforters, protectors and mentors, and not necessarily in that order.
So, we all knew that this was coming. After days of me and our dog Ralphie, lying around in morose corpse poses, after the loss of our elderly collie, Lacey, we started looking at websites for other dogs. Our family has never had just one dog at a time. We like things in multiples – kids (4), pets (plenty). I’ve always had a soft spot of compassion, for anyone who lives right next to us. Anyway, I told my husband that I want our next dog to be large, full of soft fur, gentle, yet a good guard dog, good with kids and other pets, easy to train, elegant, yet sporty enough to keep up with our crazy, energy-filled 18 month old labrador, Ralphie. However, due to my rawness over the loss of our legendary collie, Lacey, we couldn’t get another collie. He looked at my list of requirements, and placated me for a while as I poured through dog books and websites, and finally, he softly asked, “Are you sure we shouldn’t get another collie?”
Our new puppy is a 7 month-old collie named Josie. She does have different coloring than Lacey, but otherwise she has already proven to be a perfect example of why we adore collies. She reminds me so much of Lacey, it sometimes brings tears to my eyes, but she is definitely less timid than Lace, deciding that our socks make for wonderful toys, swimming with Ralphie might be fun, all of the Christmas presents under the tree must be hers, and that counter surfing can make for a fun sport, especially when you have a long nose. As our beloved veterinarian Dr. Pablo said to Josie (and I kind of think that he might have been talking to me, as well), “Oh, Josie, you have BIG shoes to fill. But every puppy is his or her OWN puppy. Every puppy is special.”
“One of the Best and Most difficult lessons you can learn in life is that no one owes you anything and you owe yourself everything.” – FofF twitter
We have started to get close to the crescendo of the holiday season. I see it in my family and I see it in our stores. I see it in the local restaurants and I see it in my neighbors’ faces. There are parties after parties, food overloads/comas, last minute stresses, shopping and shipping fiascos, final exams, and on a personal level, our family spent most of yesterday on a wild trek/scavenger hunt for the last, decent, real Christmas tree in our part of Florida. (we found it, thank goodness!)
Over Thanksgiving, our 18-month-old Labrador dog, Ralphie, was a frenzied mess. We had 16 people in our home and a lot of those people were teenagers who liked to swim with him, in our pool. He was ecstatic and on total sensory overload. At one point, someone made the comment that he was like a toddler who was beyond exhausted and just didn’t know what to do with himself. With his long tongue sticking out, he aimlessly started pawing at everyone and everything with a wild, blank expression on his face. I think that this is the state that a lot of us get to at some point in the holiday season, and I think that it is starting right now.
It is at this point in the season, that it is so important to stop, pause and just breathe. Nothing is as important as we have built up in our heads or that our stressed bodies are making it feel like. Everything that is truly important will get done. Everything that is meant to happen, will happen and all will be fine. All is well.
I love the opening quote because sometimes during the holidays, often us females particularly, try to do so much to make the holidays “perfect” with the hidden expectation that if we do everything just right, Santa or someone else is going to make the holidays “perfect” for us. Deep down though, we know that this is not how it works. As we are finishing up the season, we must bring the focus back to ourselves. We must remember that no one can fill up our mind, body, spirit needs except us, and that “trifecta of filling up” is our biggest responsibility, to ourselves so that we can be there for others. Today, we need to be honest with ourselves about what we need. Those needs should be on the top of today’s holiday “to-do” list.
“Slow down. You’re too important. Life teaches you how to live it, if you live long enough.” – Tony Bennett, on what advise he would have given to Amy Winehouse
I just got out to the computer. I’m not out Black Friday Shopping. As much as I love to shop, I have never been the least bit tempted to shop on Black Friday. My body usually has too much tryptophan coursing through my veins and the crash from the sugar high, makes sleeping in, the best holiday treat ever! So I consider Black Friday to be my darkened bedroom, allowing me to creep out to the morning light, just when I am ready to ease into my day.
My Labrador pup just turned on the Roomba vacuum cleaner with his nose. Apparently, the mess that we created yesterday was getting on his nerves. Either that or he figured out that the noise would wake up all of the “kids” who are all still at home now. Ralphie has been thrilled to have swimming, fishing and running partners again. He is going to be so bored when everyone heads back to school and work.
After the feast yesterday and watching everyone satiating themselves with good food and interesting conversations, I was reminded of a quote I cut out of a magazine recently. This is the quote by Ursula K. Le Guin:
“I always wondered why the makers leave housekeeping and cooking out of their tales. Isn’t that what all the great wars and battles are fought for – so that at day’s end a family may eat together in a peaceful house?”
For those of you out shopping, I wish you the best of luck! Life is good.
