Retreating

I will be off of the intertubes for awhile.

Never have I left for Crestone with such a wiggly mind and body.

A bird is singing outside my window.  I don't recognize the song.  A toot-toot... toot-toot sound.

Yesterday when I went to visit my dad at the skilled nursing facility that is his new home for the moment, I saw a beautiful dog sitting next to the long front desk.  As I asked the man behind the desk how to find my dad's room, I felt something nudging the back of my leg.  I knew what it was.  I turned to see that sweet dog, who looks like the Buddha dog but heftier, smelling every dog-nose-height wrinkle and fold of my pants.  Awwwww... you don't know what that did to my heart.  Or maybe you do.

The dog at the skilled nursing center looks a lot like Buddha.

 
I used to give massage to people in hospice.  I loved that work.  Now that I'm no longer able to do that, I have often thought that I would like to be a person who brings visiting dogs into hospitals and hospices.  Our Buddha dog has never been the visiting kind.  He's somewhere on the Asperger's continuum and I know that he would rather duck a hand reaching out to him than to be loved up by anyone.  He's just that way.

Maybe someday a dog of the right temperament will find its way into my life and heart, and together we will be able to play with strangers while they find acceptance and love from a four-legged kind of friend.

Now, though, I'm just looking forward to listening to the coyotes punctuate the silence while I sit and do nothing.  Maybe that will happen and maybe it won't.  Maybe the trip will be shortened by events, but maybe I'll sit in the sun for days with no cares.

We never know what the next second will bring, let alone the next ten days.  I like to pretend that I know, but right now, pretending isn't even possible.  I'm aware of the "best laid plans..." and "If you want to see God laugh, make a plan" lines of wisdom.  I can't "not plan", but I guess I might as well have a little sense of humor about having my best laid plans come crashing down.

Thinking about it, just what's so bad about hearing God laugh anyway?


Goodbye for awhile!