Thursday, October 03, 2013

Old Notes

One reason it takes me so long to clean out drawers and closets is that I have to read every doggone piece of paper I find. This morning, going through the deep drawer of my nightstand, I found a pad of paper on which I'd written several notes--late night thoughts, apparently. It touched me to be reminded of Kadi, who was determined to be the best dog ever, and Butch, my beloved blind dog. And it made me wonder what in the world was going on in my life when I wrote those gloomy haikus. Here's what I had written:

**********

Kadi holds her big biscuit between her paws, wedging it against her dewclaw, eating from one end to the other. Butch drops his biscuit on the floor, chomps a bite right out of the middle, hurries to eat both ends, then goes to where Kadi is and sniffs the carpet for crumbs.

**********

Butch hovers beside me as I eat dinner, hoping I'll give him a bite. "Move," I tell him. He backs away a few steps, turns in a circle, then comes right back to where he was. "Back off!" I say. He backs up, walks around the coffee table and shows up on the other side of me. "Butch, I'm not sharing!" I say, sternly. He stands there for a couple of seconds longer, then crosses the room, exhales deeply in what sounds like a sigh, and lies down.

**********

I'm watching a video about a 22-month-old girl taking her final exam in swim class. The child whimpers as the instructor puts her under the water over and over. The girl's mother watches but doesn't interfere. Butch, however, takes action. He eases himself off the futon and moves hurriedly to stand in front of the computer, his ears cocked and his forehead wrinkled as he tries to locate the baby in distress. The sounds of crying children and whining puppies never fail to get his attention.

**********

There were so many adjectives in each sentence that I felt as if I were standing blindfolded in a pool full of manure and flailing around desperately in search of a point.

**********

I asked you because
I needed some clarity.
You answered in fog.

**********

What if my true thoughts
Were written on my forehead?
Who would love me then?

2 comments:

  1. Love the trip down memory lane with Butch and Kadi. They were both so special and Butch was a hero in my eyes!

    I've often had the same thoughts as your last bit there....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Holly, Butch has been on my mind a lot as I've rearranged some furniture recently. Once he'd lost his eyesight, I couldn't do that anymore, and it feels strange to do it now. I must say it's fun to watch Levi and Gimpy react to the recent changes. For the past couple of days, when I give Gimpy the command "IN," he goes and stands where his crate used to be, not across the room to where I moved it over the weekend. I'd love to understand that thought process. :)

    ReplyDelete

Your comments might be the very best thing about blogging. I love it when you care enough to share your thoughts here, so go ahead and say what's on your mind.