Thursday, January 18, 2018

You Don't Know How it Feels


It's Thursday, the morning the gardener comes. The gardener has loud tools (hedge trimmer, leaf blower, lawn mower, oh my) that cause panic and terror in your most favorite beast. Sweet, sixty-five pound Levi paces, pants, moans, barks, and tries to claw his way into your chest on Thursday mornings. It must feel awful.

You load Levi, into the Prius with your other favorite beast, his emotional support dog and best friend, Teddy. You guys idle in the driveway so that you can get a little work done on the computer and have use of the house wi-fi until the gardener arrives. You slam it into reverse and peel out at the first sight of the white van.

The vet is working on some short-term pharmaceutical interventions to get your pal through these tough times, but so far nothing has panned out.

You do a loop around the park and head down to the Starbucks drive-thru the next town over. Almond milk latte for you, mini carrots for them. Rear windows are cracked with a dog nose sticking out of each. You sing along with the first eleven songs from Tom Petty Wildflowers. At the end of "To Find a Friend," it's safe to turn back for home.

What started as an escape, ended as a joyride.








6 comments:

  1. Ah, to be a young, joyriding mama. Good luck on those meds.

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  2. I love that album. Full of moving-west- for-grad-school memories.

    Levi is lucky to have an understanding friend like you.

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  3. Oh you're such a good dog person. Your fellows are lucky to have you.

    We (me and my Ziggy Stardust Catahoula) didn't have luck with pharmaceuticals, so we use CBD oil and classical counterconditioning. Done right, CC/desensitization has been super helpful for us in overcoming the boogymen.

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