Here is Simon. He was a brief visitor at our house but left quite a storm. He chewed, and his being a Bassett Hound I was very surprised but he jumped all over the place. He slid down the slides on my childrens' playground, put his grubby, muddy paws on our backs and shirts and pants... He was hyper!! Here I thought I was getting a lazy, easy-going creature who would play a little bit with our beloved Hannah and let my boys roll over him and pull his tail. But he was a very strange animal. This is perhaps why I found him in a kennel at the Pima County Animal Care Center (the pound).
Despite his failings as a people dog, I still miss him. I miss having an animal presence in the house. I can't even begin to talk about missing Hannah (our sweetest of all creatures Boxer whom we left behind in Tucson). Simon was an impulse addition to our lives and I found him a lovely home with bigger boys to play rambunctiously with him and teach him manners. I can't make the same mistake again and bring a creature we're not ready for into our home. But I have to say I miss our animal presences.
Perhaps some day when we're ready, as in L'Engle's books, our next dog will just adopt us. Until then, we'll just have to visit Joe, Siete and Galen at Grandma and Papa's farm and say hi to the neighbors' dogs as they pass by on their walkabouts.
beautiful, poignant
ReplyDeleteI still have dreams in which I have forgotten to feed the bunnies! Sometimes the are in bizarre colors like pink and blue, but I still panic in my nightmare.
Fortunately, when we find good homes for our critters, these memories simply serve to improve our fostering of the next creatures in our lives.