Mar 17, 2016 Daily Life, Ramblings and Musings

Travels Without the Dog
©March 16th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Holly is sad.  She doesn’t know why my daughter, husband and I drove with her to pick up my husband after he’d finished teaching his class.  She doesn’t understand why we drove together to a fancy street in the city, and left her in the car, to clearly partake of a delicious dinner, because she detected it in our breath when we returned.  She doesn’t understand why we all drove together after that to a mysterious place with many cars on many levels, and left her for a little while in our car.  She doesn’t get why my husband gave her an extra-special hug and loving words, telling her he would miss her.  Even more painful and puzzling to her is the fact that after we left her in the car, only my daughter and I returned, having apparently mislaid my husband.

She squeak-whined a little, and looked dismally at us, but cheered up when we left the car-ridden place, and got on the tunnel that led to another road – a highway, really, that she recognized, and which led us magically home.  We got home, and she ran up the stairs, and into the house after I unlocked it, and looked around for my husband, then at me.  I spoke kindly to her, letting her know he would be back in thirteen days.  Of course, she didn’t understand the exact meaning of what I said, but like a very young child does, she picked up the soothing tone that told her that it was going to be all right.  Trotting up with  her small, fluffy toy lammie in her mouth, she asked me to toss it around around the living room, which I did.  After I gave her a good dinner, plus yogurt, which she loves, she appeared to be satisfied that it was all going to be fine, after all.

To be a dog means having to deal with the mysterious comings and goings of her human pets; sometimes, we’re all together; sometimes we’re in clumps of twos and threes.  She’s a family dog.  She needs us all there.  When one of us is missing, she’s sad at first, but always philosophical, I think, because in her doggie mind, it’s clear that we’ll all eventually be there for her. 

I always it a point of saying goodbye to her, and so do my husband and daughter.  And I always tell her, “We’ll be back,” or, “I’ll be back,” (just like I would tell my daughter when she was a baby, and I left the house, leaving her in my husband’s care – which worked for her, because my daughter has turned out to be reasonably sanguine about such things, thank goodness).   Back to our dog, however.  I think what comforts her the most  is that our home smells like all three of us and her – she has everything she needs right here.   

It must be very upsetting to be a dog and note the many arrivals and departures of her pet-humans.  Fortunately, the immediacy of life grabs a dog’s attention, and any sadness that dogs feel dissipates in the face of a well-placed squirrel with a taunting tail.  Of course, it’s night-time right now, and there are no squirrels about, worse luck! 

Right now, she’s lying on the couch, with her chin on my husband’s sweater, which he handed over to me before he went into the Emirates security check-in for his flight to India – he won’t need it for the thirteen days he’ll be there (apparently, it’s 81° F in Mumbai right now).

I had placed his sweater near my dog’s favorite pillow on purpose, and she is happy to be near the scent of her beloved master.

There’s no such thing as fear of disaster, or fear of loss in a dog’s mind – everything is the eternal Now.  Every experience and every memory, every thought, every image, every sense of being loved – all of these are in her nose, her adorable, sensitive, eternal Nose.  So, this sweater’s Daddy-smell, here, now, soothes, protects, consoles, and wraps its arms around her.

Soon, she’ll trundle up to bed, for I’m turning in for the night at an hour that’s unusually early for me – it’s midnight now – the night’s absurdly young, but I’m feeling absurdly old from too many late nights.  In ten minutes, I hope to be wrapped in dream-clouds.

I hope my husband’s flight and India-trip are safe and wonderful.  I shall be happy when he returns.  So will our daughter.  So will the dog.

Home is where we’re all happiest.

___________________________________________________________________

Tags: #Dog and Family, #Holly Tales, #Travels Without the Dog