Dogs
Things I love about my dog.
One night on my mission I had the most vivid dream that I was walking my dog. I woke up crying—a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. I found the situation especially odd because I couldn’t pinpoint the reason I was sad; I was rarely homesick as a missionary, especially in the later months.
At that point I had been out for about a year, it was Summer (an important happiness factor in Oregon where it gets oppressively cloudy in the Winter), and I was opening an area and co-training a new missionary (my dream transfer), so my best guess is that I just subconsciously missed having space to be alone and think. At home, I walked my dog multiple times a week, and they were long walks, which is probably why I’m his second favorite person.
The dog in question:
My dog is so cool. He has these brown eyes that make you die inside a little bit, and he sits on the ground so wonky (see his leg above). I can tell him whatever I want and it’s not a big deal; he’ll still sit by me on the couch and lay in the grass with me in the Summertime. He also happens to be tall enough to rest his head on the table while you’re eating, which I think is kind of excellent.
One time I drove him somewhere and I had the window open for him, but forgot he was sitting in the back when I rolled the windows up. I accidentally closed his head in the window, and that’s probably the worst I’ve ever felt.
It’s funny that my parents refused to get a dog for several years, but now that we have a dog he is the object of attention for our entire family when we are together. I don’t know if we know how to talk about anything else anymore.
Dogs have personalities too, so here’s a list of my dog’s idiosyncracies:
We have an unspoken agreement that I always take him on walks and never take him running with me. He despises going on runs, which doesn’t seem completely illogical to me.
He loves ice cubes. Maybe that’s not an idiosyncracy. I’m pretty sure all dogs love ice cubes.
He also loves the snow. I’ve never seen a living creature that gets more excited about the snow.
He will stay the night in my room only if I bribe him with food. Basically he does whatever he wants unless I bribe him with food.
I don’t know if I will ever be able to make sense of the connection between people and animals. It’s incredible to me that two living beings can not understand each other (verbally), but still understand each other emotionally. Dogs are not cognizant of the support they give, they just do it. That’s their existence.
Anyway, he started to show signs of age recently and it’s odd that you can love an animal so much and watch them live an entire lifetime in a span of ten years. And when you start nearing the end, ten years starts to feel painfully short.
I’ve been loving these funny little drawings & comics recently. Here are a few:
