Ya Gotta Have Friends!

It’s been very rainy in Northern California. Rainy and cold and gloomy, which makes me want to pull up the covers and hide away with a big mug of something warm to drink and a good book and ignore everything on my To-Do list.

But there is one thing on my list that can’t be ignored—walking Dog. I can easily go a day without doing the dishes, or answering the phone or e-mails or even taking a shower, but Dog’s walk is non-negotiable.

Let's make this clear--I am not a routine-type person by nature. But having kids or dogs forces you into this weird mode of self-sacrifice in which you end up kind of vicariously enjoying and even rationalizing boring routines as a fulfilling way to spend your time. I am holding the family together here! And, really, if I didn’t have to walk the dog or make chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast and pack lunches and check homework and drive kids to school, what would I be dong? Perhaps wasting my time sleeping in, getting pedicures, or writing the Great American Novel. What fun would that be?

So I have gotten Dog into the habit of having a walk every morning at a certain time and he holds me to our unspoken promise of routine.

I would venture to guess that in the last year and a half Dog has been walked almost every single day—the only rare exceptions are days when it pours rain down all day as it did a couple of weeks ago or I am sick in bed and can’t move. Maybe three days out of the last 500. The Dog Whisperer would be proud!

But today, in the brief break in the rain, when it was only drizzling, we went for our walk and Dog refused to go along the routine path. He tugged on the leash and sat down on the path and insisted on going to his doggie-friend, Cody’s house. (This is the Havanese that my husband fell in love with that propelled us to get Dog.) I felt pretty stupid, but we knocked on the door and I meekly said that I thought Dog was wanting to have a playdate…

The dogs have been having a blast.


Running around, chasing each other, playing in a way that they can only do because they GET each other. I can walk or play squeekie-toy with Dog, but as much as I want to relate, I can’t. I’m not a dog.

I have to remember this in my own life. I love my friends. But I sometimes forget when I have so many other demands on my time, that my fabulous, smart, amazing friends are a source of inspiration and energy.