X is for X-men

"What is that really high-pitched sound that you can hear in this school sometimes?" a student asked me today.

"I don't know," I answered. "I can't hear it." I shrugged. "I guess I have old ears."

"No," he reassured me, "there are kids who can't hear it either. I guess I just have rrrreeeaaallly good hearing."

"That could be your superpower," I teased him.

"Exactly!" he said, seriously. "I would be called Dog Ears, because I can hear things most people don't, and my sense of smell is incredible!"

I laughed and nodded.

Lucy would approve.

Life Lesson: Heros are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary.

W is for Waiting for When

Walking up the path this morning I glanced down at Lucy. Even though she has nearly doubled in size in the month that we've had her, she is still so small and so cute. Her tiny tail curled happily upward as she sniffed in unmown grass nearly as tall as she is.

I appreciate how much better she is on the leash, though; it was literally a drag to pull her along just a few short weeks ago. Looking at her now, it's almost hard to remember how she was then. What will she be like in another month? Two months? Six months? A year? More independent and easier to care for? Definitely. Able to take long walks, swim, and fetch? No doubt.

But this little Lucy will be gone forever, and I'm going to miss her a little.

Life Lesson: Forever is composed of nows. ~Emily Dickinson

V is for Vacation

The last four days away have been awesome! It was wonderful to get the family together, take a road trip, and spend the days playing with the puppies, going to museums, hiking, shopping, and eating out. Even the rain this morning just made the rolling hills and fields of Western Massachusetts seem more green and beautiful, and driving south toward home it felt like I didn't have a care in the world-- nothing was too stressful; everything was manageable.

Hey! Summer Vacation! Wait up! I'll be there as soon as I can!

Life Lesson: Tension is who you think you should be; relaxation is who you are. ~Chinese Proverb

U is for Undaunted

I was giving Lucy a good head and neck rub this morning when my fingers ran over a suspicious little bump. Parting her fluffy fur to get down to the skin was a challenge, but what I found there was a nasty surprise-- the puppy had a tick.

Fortunately my brother was right there and I made him take it off her. (Thanks Bill!) We spent the next 20 miutes combing over both puppies and turned up 6 ticks-- 4 on Lucy and 2 on Rosie, all from just playing in the yard and the edges of the woods outside our rental house.

The puppies themselves could not have cared less, and in a kind of mental good luck-bad luck exercise, I convinced myself that despite the presence of filthy disease-carrying parasites crawling all over my precious puppy, the fact that the ticks were small (but not tiny deer ticks) and had not yet firmly attached was positive.

Life Lesson: If you can't see the bright side, try polishing the dull side.

T is for Two

On her first big trip away from home, Lucy has been lucky to travel with her cousin Rosie. Everywhere they have gone this weekend, those pups have been the center of attention. People literally point and stop us on the street to pet the puppies. And when we're not out in public, the two of them wrestle themselves senseless until they collapse into a furry heap of cuteness and fall asleep. In many situations, twice the number means mean twice the work, but with these two the formula is inverted and two puppies actually seem to be half the work.

Life Lesson: There is a fine line between the numerator and the denominator.

S is for Stop and Go

Still another remarkable thing about puppies is their tendency to barrel through life at full speed, only to hit the brakes and drop into a sound sleep without warning. What's lovable in young dogs, however, is maddening in traffic, as I was reminded this afternoon when Connecticut kept us hostage for hours on I-84.

Fortunately, Lucy slept through it.

Life Lesson: Begin at the beginning and the go on till you reach the end then stop. ~Lewis Carroll

R is for Rosie

A week before we got Lucy, my brother got a puppy, too. Rosie is also a Golden Retriever mix, and that makes her Lucy's cousin in more ways than one. Let me tell you, if one puppy is cute, then two puppies are unbearably adorable-- almost too winsome and fetching to be real. Together they tumble and roll in a wrestle and blur of sunrise-colored fur, nipping and growling seriously, but never in earnest. In between bouts they flop, eyes narrowed and pink tongues hanging in satisfaction, until one or the other remembers the game and pounces again.

Life Lesson: Treasure your cousins; they were your first friends and will love you forever.