A Dog’s Life

I’ve done the right thing for myself as well as the kids with this move. This is the first time in seven years that I can truly say that. Even Bella is enjoying the routine. Long walks multiple times a day. Visits to the kennel to hang with other dogs. She adapts so well to new places and new situations. The poor girl has gone through some trauma, too. Gage’s fall in the garage with all the stress and strange people running around the house –  ending in a long stay in the home kennel with Sammie. I wonder what they felt after so much fear, stress, and visitors only to sit in silence alone for such a long time. 

I vaguely remember what I did when I got home after the hospital. It must have been near 3:00 in the morning. After letting both dogs outside, I laid awake in my bed waiting for the sun to come up. They must have wondered where everyone was, why Gage and the kids weren’t home. 

I’m sure it was hard on them, not knowing what happened and feeling all the heavy sadness in the house. I do know that Bella was especially important to all of us that summer. She would just love us and let her sweetness soothe our pain with just her presence. 

Seven years and four homes later, she is still giving us her love and sweetness. Bella just rolls with each place with ease. She’ll settle quickly as long as we are there with the key items that say home to her. My bed, my blankets, and pillows. I hope the next house will do her well, especially when we get the fence up for her.

So thinking about all these things, I have to be proud of what I’ve done and who I’ve loved and protected. Just like Bella must be. I need to take a lesson from the simplicity there. Be present, bring love, and keep on even if you don’t understand what’s happening. Hell, that’s life in a nutshell. I think that dogs know how to live it.