Taking Time to Find the Story

Franklin and Huey on their way to the mountains

G and I had a long talk this weekend to catch up, talk about life, family friends and ultimately the blog. The last couple of years, the topic of how we feel about the blog and where we want to go with it eventually comes into play. This weekend was no different and while we didn’t really discuss discontinuing Lowi & G, it’s always in the unspoken words. Creativity has been difficult to come by the last 18 months. First, we had nothing happening in our lives and thus nothing to write about and now it seems we are all trying to pack a year’s worth of living into our summer months which also makes creativity feel forced. Being busy and not taking space to think, feel, reflect, read and write make it difficult for me to put words into coherent sentences, let alone a story you might want to read.

So, on Sunday, I took the time to stop and reflect on these last couple of months and ask myself what has given me pause, made me laugh, cry or just want to share.

I immediately thought about 4th of July weekend and remembered being doubled over laughing and unable to speak coherently. Surely, there was a story behind that kind of laughter.

Last week we were watching our grand puppy, Franklin, while Reese was out of town. He is 20 weeks old now and doing pretty well, but we decided to take him and our two dogs to the mountains for a long holiday weekend. All the dogs did great on the drive and nobody seemed to stressed.

Once we were there we realized that we had new neighbors moving in next door. While normally that would be a non-issue, we immediately were concerned with Franklin’s separation anxiety and how he tends to bark still while in his crate sometimes. Andy and I made the executive decision to let him sleep with us and our other two dogs so he wouldn’t disturb our new neighbors. Nothing says welcome to the neighborhood like a dog barking while you are trying to sleep.

That first night, Franklin was very restless and nobody could sleep. Eventually I just took him into the other room so he had more room and less distractions. Around 5:30 in the morning Franklin needed to go out for a bathroom break. I tried to be very quiet as not to disturb the other dogs because then everyone would be barking to go out. Once downstairs, I realized two things: One, it was cold and raining and two, I wasn’t wearing a lot. I had on very short sleeping shorts and a camisole. At this point, I had two options and I wasn’t about to go wake my sleeping dogs to get appropriate clothing. So, I got in the closet and pulled out my raincoat which thankfully is a little longer so it covered my backside. I zipped it up and, yes, I did in fact look like I was only wearing that raincoat. And just to top it off I pulled on my snow boots which were the only waterproof shoes available to me at this moment. Then I said a quick prayer that nobody would be outside to see me and that we would not run into any bears.

Franklin is really good about going to the bathroom anywhere you take him, rocks, dirt, grass, mulch; he really isn’t picky. On this early morning, however, he really wasn’t happy about sticking close to the condo. He really wanted to venture over across the way to the grass. So, I, in all my glory walked the little beast across to the grass where not only were we more visible to anyone else out at this early hour, but we were also more vulnerable to the bears. I kept a close eye and ear out for anything while also keeping home in sight. Thankfully, Franklin found the edge of the grass hospitable enough for him to do his business and we didn’t have to linger long.
Thankfully, we made it back inside without incident.

The next night we had friends staying over so we were thankful when Franklin and the other dogs fell asleep easily. About 1:00am though, I woke to Andy yelling. I turned the light on to see what was happening and there he was standing in the bathroom over a pile of poop that he had just stepped in! Franklin was obviously not feeling well and since he likes to just stare at you quietly when he needs to go out, we missed the signs while we were sleeping. So, the puppy walked into the carpeted bathroom and pooped. It quickly became obvious that Franklin wasn’t feeling well. I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say, that Franklin needed to go out A LOT over the next 12 hours. After sleeping with a leash wrapped around my wrist, I finally gave up at 4:30am and stayed downstairs with him so I could easily take him out.

By 6am I was making chicken and rice and wishing we were home where I could open the back door and let the little monster out easily. After 12 hours though, he seemed back to himself and while it was a long 12 hours, we made it. After two days of not a lot of sleep, I felt a little loopy. Our friends were commenting that it had been a long weekend with Franklin and wondered what I did in the middle of the night because its prime bear season. I began telling them about going out in the middle of the night and my raincoat incident. It was probably my lack of sleep more than anything, but I couldn’t tell the story without laughing. By the end, I was doubled over, cry/laughing and barely able to speak.

The point is that there were hours of our weekend that weren’t great, but sprinkled all through the weekend were dinners, wine, friends, parades, ice cream, shared stories and lot’s of laughter.

If we didn’t know already, this last year has taught us that life can be unpredictable. It can be difficult, beautiful, sad, funny and easy at times. Embrace it all. Cleaning up a puppy’s mess isn’t fun, but it’s hardly the worst thing that has happened to us and it surely won’t be the last time we have to clean up messes. Not getting a full night’s sleep isn’t ideal either, but it didn’t keep us from having a great time with our friends or to laugh at the situations that we found ourselves in over the weekend. I mean, they were sad they missed my little raincoat and boots attire. Focus on what’s important. Focus on the positive aspects of whatever you are going through. I promise you that there is always something positive in every situation and if you dig a little you might even find something to laugh at.

So, it turns out that while we might not always have some huge story to share, we always have a little nugget buried in our days if we take the time to look.