Love, Life and Puppy Dog Tales

Lessons Learned this morning on my second 'official' bike ride. a) I can't ride a bike like I drive a car - I have to look directly IN FRONT of the bike, not only down the road a distance b) the trash thrown from cars lands in bike lanes (like water bottles, still full of water) (see a above) c)speaking of water, don't discount having water with you on a bike ride, even on a short trip. (my cages and water bottles arrive today) d) REALLY glad I practiced clipping in/out (esp ecially out) at home, in the safety of soft cushy things (thank you my wonderful wife  Ni Kki  !) or I might be laying on my side in the street in front of a stranger's house (see a and b above) finally.... e) you never really know how many hills your town has until you have to ride up them on a bike. (FYI - Temecula has A LOT of hills. ) Here's to new adventures...!

There's a man I admire greatly that I see nearly every day and I don't even know his name.  I doubt I ever will.   Every morning as I drive to work, I see a variety of people out exercising.  Most in pairs, wearing fancy get ups.  Some solo, iPOD in, Nike's on, trucking right along.  I almost never give those people a second glance.  Aside from the dancing jogger who fascinates me to no end - but she's a subject for a different post.... This man, however, is different.  Sunny and warm.... windy and rainy.... overcast and gloomy, aside from a jacket, he wears the same thing. A button up shirt. A pair of khaki pants. A pair of what appear to be black loafers - though to be honest, they could be all black running shoes. And he is jogging.  He has no iPOD.  He isn't 'appropriately' dressed.  And yet, he is out there every day, jogging. At first he struck me as a person who must have woken up and decided that today was the day ...

3/22/91-1/24/02 How do you properly express the intense love... the immense respect... the deepest of emotions about a companion that came into your life for, comparatively speaking, such a short time, yet impacted your entire life, from then and long beyond? I often struggle with words that are adequate.  It has been since 2002 that I said goodbye to this fantastic dog.  Thumper was a throw away dog. He was a puppy that no one wanted, dumped at the shelter in my tiny town. The shelter staff thought he may have a problem with his sight because of his blue eyes. No one even thought about deafness. I didn't discover he was deaf until 2 weeks later. By then he was well entrenched in my heart. Thumper lived his life with joyful abandon, tail always wagging. He never knew a stranger. In his visits to elderly care facilities, he was always kind and gentle. He had a particular soft spot for one woman who loved candy spice drops. He would seek out her room first, get his sweet ...

It's different each time I say goodbye.   I have taken them on trips just to see their favorite place or do their favorite things. I have had their friends over to share in the things they love - ice cream, jerky, you name it.   I have sat quietly with them, hand on their head or chest.  Talked to them, even though I knew they couldn't hear.   I have held them after it's over, sometimes cursing the powers that be over things I didn't understand to make that day come to pass.  Sometimes just caressing and gently stroking them, knowing that it is only for me now that I do that.  I do it because I need that.  I need that connection.  I need to feel that connection at least one more time.  Soon, that memory will be the only connection I have to reach out to feel them again. I have learned that, even though I have said goodbye, they are not gone.  Not truly gone.  They are only as far as my memory allows them to be...

I met strength yesterday. I never realized it could have a persona. I had never thought of it as anything more than a part of character. Despite the broken and well displaced humerus that appeared to have happened a few weeks ago, despite the broken collar bone... despite the broken and also displaced sternum that appeared very recent... despite the bullet in his body, that by all evidence presented was shot by a coward, from behind, as the path of the shrapnel indicated, despite the wounds on his feet from dragging himself, and despite the tremendous abdominal pain that made his whole body tremble... despite all of that, he looked me in the eye with a distinct steadiness. He held himself together and held my gaze, his strength personified in front of me. I was sadden by his presentation - how his life could have been so abjectly disregarded by most who saw him probably every day. I was grateful for the one who called and said he needed help, so we could help him. I wa...

Nearly every day I ask the same question: Why hasn't anyone come for this one? So very soft.  Such a beautiful face.  So gentle.  She reaches out to touch me.  She has known love before.  He does tricks.  He has immense trust in me without ever knowing me before.  She loves to carry a toy in her mouth. She retrieves with joy and would do it all day long.  These dogs, these cats... some of them that come through the doors... it is so very obvious that they came from somewhere, from someone that loved and cared for them.   I look at them and think, surely your person is looking for you.  They will be here for you soon, I am sure. He keeps looking for ...  you.   She keeps looking for... you. A German Shepherd. A German Shorthair. A Pekingese.  A Persian. A Scottish Fold. A Terrier. A mutt. A domestic short or long hair. I wonder if you are looking?  I spend hours scouring lost anima...

I am not political.  I vote.  I will stand up with others when the issue is dear to my heart and life.  Overall, though, I am not political.  I won't stand on a soap box and make Facebook posts about the elections.   When my own civil rights are at stake, I have occasionally made statements about that.   My favorite rant has everything to do with how my marrying my partner hurts anyone else.  I will never understand how people think it will bring about the fall of marriage or civilization as we know it. This election season, I have been fairly silent.  I have shared posts that have messages that I like, but I have made no comment.  Truth be told, until recently, I wasn't worried about this election.    Now, I am afraid.  Tomorrow, people will be voting in an election that, in my opinion, can make or break the rights that 'my people' have gained.   It seems that no one can say, unequivocally that one or th...