July 6, 2010

White Dog's greatest service to me sometimes is that she forces me to lift my head from the busy work that we humans crowd ourselves with to remember the more important simple universal tasks of loving and caring and sharing. This afternoon I was intently researching issues for the new Sustainability Project I have undertaken, Googling, scribbling, cutting and pasting, highlighting (all of the "ing"s as White Dog calls them). She and Quinn came in several times and I absentmindedly scratched a ruff or an ear without even looking up. White Dog brought Tigger in and laid him next to my chair asking to play...I promised, later. The Other White Dog rested his head on my knee and just stood there...waiting...until finally he left. TOWD sighed and stretched in the doorway, out of ideas to lure my attention away from the computer. White Dog played "Lassie" as she trotted in, woofed to follow her, and then pranced down the hallway to the bedroom where she hopped on the bed. I didn't follow until I heard her plaintive howl. Deadline be damned, I thought, this is important, too. I went in and cuddled and stroked her and talked. Quinn came in and demanded a head rub and "momma loves you" cuddles. We all felt better after that 15 minute break...and if that quarter hour alters the world of global sustainability, well, then put me in the history books as a social pariah...but to White Dog and her brother, I will be the wise one who knew "for everything there is a season..."