December 27, 2006
I truly hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with laughter and excitement. Annie and I definitely did. It was exciting, and yet peaceful. I think Lilo demonstrated this adequately as he lounged under the chair that had the previous night been attended by Santa. Santa snacked on some cottage cheese and a glass of Coke before taking a bowl of carrots and apple snacks (created for horses) to the reindeer. Santa was grateful, and left a long letter to Annie, on which Lilo rested his paw during the Great Opening of Presents.
Well, to the point of this post: It's very strange how the world works. We weave threads in our lives that involve other people, and frankly most of those threads become disconnected after a change in life or time. I've lost track and connection with many friends. I suppose that a lot of those friendships were made simply because of the circumstance. I don't hear from anyone with whom I was in Germany, and I've tried with a few. I have one, maybe two, friends from high school that communicate with me. I have one from college with whom I regularly communicate. My work friendships come and go. I have a few that I hope will withstand the inevitable changes in responsibility or employment. But the threads that create these relationships are unpredictable, and amazing.
Intending no desrespect to any of my friends, this post is about my friends Eric and Jenni. I don't consider them College friends, because they had already graduated and started working when I met them. Of all things, we were in dog school together. This is where dog slaves learn how to communicate better with their dog owners. This particular class was horrible. It had been raining, and the track where we were training (dogs or owners, I don't know) was a mess. I know I've written about this before, but it is just so freakin' funny, I have to tell it again...
If our dogs had to go to the bathroom, we were supposed to go off track, let them go, and then clean it up. Ok. No problem. Well, except that my very large Great Dane was very nervous and simply went into form while walking around the track. He was in complete squat with his ears down in embarrassment, and due to his nervous state, it was... um... not terribly solid. I didn't get him off the track, and in my concern, I didn't pay attention to who was behind us. I went to get paper towels to clean up the mess... there were three paper towels on the roll. That wasn't enough to wipe Soren's freakin' butt. I did the best I could, and finished out the class, thinking that I was never going to come back. Unfortunately, I'm crap about giving up. So Soren completed the course and got his Canine Good Citizen certificate.
At any rate, after class, with steam coming out of my ears, I took Soren to the little S-10 pickup for the ride home, and this lady walked up. She said how beautiful she thought Soren was, and wanted to know if she could pet him. Not paying attention, I said sure. Soren, who was an immediate good judge of character in his younger years, liked her instantly (he really didn't like my first wife). In the mean time, her husband comes up with their Black Laborador. He had the same look on his face that I had. This sucked. Of course, his look was partly because he was behind us in line and Soren almost crapped on their dog.
Despite my curse of memory, I don't know how it happened. Somehow, we started talking to each other. We had tremendous conversations, shared a few beers, and became friends. There are many great stories related to this, but in a futile attempt at brevity, I'll skip a bit. We have talked all through the years. Yeah, we aren't that old, but I don't have many friends that I can say have kept constanct contact for this long. Quite frankly, I don't even have family that have done this. They were the only people that were able to make it to my second wedding from any distance. We all watched the horror of 9-11 on TV, and dealt with it together. They have watched me, and helped me through some of the most horrible times of my life. We have laughed and shed tears together. All of this started with a couple of dogs being in a training class...
We don't exchange gifts normally, and haven't for years, although they generally send something for Annie, and being a horrible person, I forget their son. Long ago, I worked to give them a gift that rates high on the most important, dedicate, and thoughtful gift I've ever given. To this day, it brings a smile to my face for it's beauty, and a pang in my heart for the loss it now represents. It had to do with our dogs; both of whom have moved on to rolling hills, peaceful rivers, and meaty bones plentiful whenever desired.
This year, I received a package from them that was for me. I read the note on it before I placed it under the tree, and was a bit concerned. I didn't want Annie to see me upset on Christmas, but I knew I would be. Annie played Santa Claus, and handed out the presents. She was very in tune with making sure that I opened one every now and then. She was concerned about the fact that I didn't have very many. I was fine, but liked that she wanted to make sure I was engaged with the opening of presents. She handed me this large present, and I took thirty seconds to prepare myself. The note on the present was to the point of, 'so you know that there are people in Missouri who miss you.' I opened the gift, and extracted what was inside. It was a lamp.
I have long felt a special affinity for the Great Blue Heron. I consider it my 'totem,' my animal sprit, my te mana, if I recall my Tahitian correctly. I don't take it religiously, but it means something to me. When I moved to California, I used to see one on the way to work every day. After a while, I stopped seeing it, and told my mother that it had moved on because it knew I was alright. I came in contact with a lady who was a psychologist about five years ago who told me I should "really look at why I felt the Heron was my totem." She was a quack, so I never did. At any rate, I do love the Great Blue Heron for many reasons that I won't get into here given that this is already terribly long.
I extracted the lamp to find a beautiful cut of a Great Blue Heron. Yes, they have long known about my affinity for the Heron. They didn't know I needed a lamp for the study. It has now taken its place in the study next to my monitor, amidst the pictures of Annie, and the dragon sculpture given to me by Big Annie. I only wish I still had the Heron sculpture given to me by my mom and dad.
Thank you. It's beautiful, and I can't tell you how much it means to me.
You never know where the threads will connect for life. A dog class, playing tennis, living across the hall from each other in college, being single parents with kids in the same class room, a business deal, meeting at a conference, working on a project together... I don't know. It's all fair game.
In awe of the random nature of life...
Well, to the point of this post: It's very strange how the world works. We weave threads in our lives that involve other people, and frankly most of those threads become disconnected after a change in life or time. I've lost track and connection with many friends. I suppose that a lot of those friendships were made simply because of the circumstance. I don't hear from anyone with whom I was in Germany, and I've tried with a few. I have one, maybe two, friends from high school that communicate with me. I have one from college with whom I regularly communicate. My work friendships come and go. I have a few that I hope will withstand the inevitable changes in responsibility or employment. But the threads that create these relationships are unpredictable, and amazing.
Intending no desrespect to any of my friends, this post is about my friends Eric and Jenni. I don't consider them College friends, because they had already graduated and started working when I met them. Of all things, we were in dog school together. This is where dog slaves learn how to communicate better with their dog owners. This particular class was horrible. It had been raining, and the track where we were training (dogs or owners, I don't know) was a mess. I know I've written about this before, but it is just so freakin' funny, I have to tell it again...
If our dogs had to go to the bathroom, we were supposed to go off track, let them go, and then clean it up. Ok. No problem. Well, except that my very large Great Dane was very nervous and simply went into form while walking around the track. He was in complete squat with his ears down in embarrassment, and due to his nervous state, it was... um... not terribly solid. I didn't get him off the track, and in my concern, I didn't pay attention to who was behind us. I went to get paper towels to clean up the mess... there were three paper towels on the roll. That wasn't enough to wipe Soren's freakin' butt. I did the best I could, and finished out the class, thinking that I was never going to come back. Unfortunately, I'm crap about giving up. So Soren completed the course and got his Canine Good Citizen certificate.
At any rate, after class, with steam coming out of my ears, I took Soren to the little S-10 pickup for the ride home, and this lady walked up. She said how beautiful she thought Soren was, and wanted to know if she could pet him. Not paying attention, I said sure. Soren, who was an immediate good judge of character in his younger years, liked her instantly (he really didn't like my first wife). In the mean time, her husband comes up with their Black Laborador. He had the same look on his face that I had. This sucked. Of course, his look was partly because he was behind us in line and Soren almost crapped on their dog.
Despite my curse of memory, I don't know how it happened. Somehow, we started talking to each other. We had tremendous conversations, shared a few beers, and became friends. There are many great stories related to this, but in a futile attempt at brevity, I'll skip a bit. We have talked all through the years. Yeah, we aren't that old, but I don't have many friends that I can say have kept constanct contact for this long. Quite frankly, I don't even have family that have done this. They were the only people that were able to make it to my second wedding from any distance. We all watched the horror of 9-11 on TV, and dealt with it together. They have watched me, and helped me through some of the most horrible times of my life. We have laughed and shed tears together. All of this started with a couple of dogs being in a training class...
We don't exchange gifts normally, and haven't for years, although they generally send something for Annie, and being a horrible person, I forget their son. Long ago, I worked to give them a gift that rates high on the most important, dedicate, and thoughtful gift I've ever given. To this day, it brings a smile to my face for it's beauty, and a pang in my heart for the loss it now represents. It had to do with our dogs; both of whom have moved on to rolling hills, peaceful rivers, and meaty bones plentiful whenever desired.
This year, I received a package from them that was for me. I read the note on it before I placed it under the tree, and was a bit concerned. I didn't want Annie to see me upset on Christmas, but I knew I would be. Annie played Santa Claus, and handed out the presents. She was very in tune with making sure that I opened one every now and then. She was concerned about the fact that I didn't have very many. I was fine, but liked that she wanted to make sure I was engaged with the opening of presents. She handed me this large present, and I took thirty seconds to prepare myself. The note on the present was to the point of, 'so you know that there are people in Missouri who miss you.' I opened the gift, and extracted what was inside. It was a lamp.
I have long felt a special affinity for the Great Blue Heron. I consider it my 'totem,' my animal sprit, my te mana, if I recall my Tahitian correctly. I don't take it religiously, but it means something to me. When I moved to California, I used to see one on the way to work every day. After a while, I stopped seeing it, and told my mother that it had moved on because it knew I was alright. I came in contact with a lady who was a psychologist about five years ago who told me I should "really look at why I felt the Heron was my totem." She was a quack, so I never did. At any rate, I do love the Great Blue Heron for many reasons that I won't get into here given that this is already terribly long.
I extracted the lamp to find a beautiful cut of a Great Blue Heron. Yes, they have long known about my affinity for the Heron. They didn't know I needed a lamp for the study. It has now taken its place in the study next to my monitor, amidst the pictures of Annie, and the dragon sculpture given to me by Big Annie. I only wish I still had the Heron sculpture given to me by my mom and dad.
Thank you. It's beautiful, and I can't tell you how much it means to me.
You never know where the threads will connect for life. A dog class, playing tennis, living across the hall from each other in college, being single parents with kids in the same class room, a business deal, meeting at a conference, working on a project together... I don't know. It's all fair game.
In awe of the random nature of life...