K9 Love

There are so many good things about getting away, even if it's only for a few days. And even if the temperature soars into the triple digits. And even if the previous campers left a dookie in the campsite without properly burying said offensive material. 

Alright maybe getting away is overrated. 

But there is little that can match the excitement of seeing your dog again and getting all mushy about her unconditional love.

I see a lot of videos of combat vets coming home to their dogs. As well as folks who lost their dogs years ago and have only recently been re-united. If you watch enough of these you know that the doggies often don't put the face to the owner. 

There's a weird hesitation.

It's only after the olfactory juices kick that the mayhem begins.

Lucy and I have been inseparable since the day we brought her home from the rescue shelter three years ago. She attached herself to me like one of those Remora fish that never leaves its shark's side. 

I go to sleep and Lucy goes to sleep right next to my side of the bed.

I go to eat dinner, Lucy sidles up beside me to get anything that might not make it into my oversized jaws.

I go to to launch a lifeboat off the SS Assitania, and Lucy slides in at the last minute to disturbingly watch me do my business.

So when she saw me after a tortuous 4 days of not seeing me, I thought the reaction would be more explosive.

It wasn't.

Until 20 seconds had passed and she got a strong whiff of me, which my wife and daughter's will tell you does not require one full third of a minute.

After that, all hell broke loose. She started crying and whining. and wagging her tail faster than a Palm Springs windmill. Had a turbine been hooked to her tail, we could have gone a month without consuming a single gigawatt from SoCal Edison.

It's been about 36 hours since our return from Upper Greys Meadow, a five star campsite I recommend heartily, and I have almost tripped over her three times.

I'm not complaining however. Considering the eyerolls, the defiance, the whispers behind my back from my girls and my wife, it's clear I should be happy that at least I've earned the love of one resident in this house.