Alexandersmap

    Tag: dogs

    • Collapsing the Space Between Us

      “Walkers pass tight lipped, eyes averted
      Only dogs tugging on leashes want to collapse the space between us”
      – Ken Burns, In the Social Distance

      A couple of days ago I had the audacity to post an opinion on Facebook and immediately faced the crush of for and against dialog that’s lasted far longer than the typical family picture flurry of activity. And those were friends, family and acquaintances, not anonymous Twitter trolls. But that’s the world we live in right now – divisive and reactionary. And yet we’re all basically the same people with a few differences of opinion.

      Ken Burns wrote a poem that describes the time we’re living in, and read it on a NY Times podcast. You can find the transcript here. This bit about collapsing the space between us got me thinking about a guy we met hiking on the Carter Dome last weekend. Or rather, we met his year old retriever Emma, who was way ahead of me on the list of 48 4000 footers. I’ve completed 10 since I started re-tracking this year. She’s completed 40! Her owner was an older gentleman, I’d place him at 70, but he was incredibly fit from hiking all the time. He mentioned that his last dog hiked Mount Adams 65 times!

      It occurred to me that I never learned his opinion on politics, nor he mine. Just people talking longer than they might have otherwise because of the dynamo swirling about us. Sure there was hiking in common, but really Emma was the bridge between us. When we parted her exuberance was the part that remained on my mind, apparently still, for there remains a glow of joy when I think about her rolling in the dirt. The world could use more dogs collapsing the space between us, and less media driving us apart.

    • Dog Days

      This is the big weekend on the Cape, with the Falmouth Road Race pulling in thousands of runners. It’s big in Pocasset too this weekend, bursting at the seams. The house was full of dogs this morning. And people. But the dogs steal the show as usual.

      Beach work and gardening to earn a swim. Tread water for 20 minutes, bobbing like a buoy on the rollers. Summer days of salt, sun and sand. Sailboats quietly cruise by. Power boats buzz by too, with too-loud conversations over the engine noise. Yes, sound carries over water.

      A moment of quiet now, waves lapping on the beach, deck umbrella creaks as it twists to and fro, runners gone to check in and pick up numbers. Half the dog population and their people have gone home. A few of us remain, holding down the fort. Witnesses to the parade of boats floating back and forth. Sun warming all. These are the dog days of summer. They never last, and changes are coming too soon. Today is all we have, and with that in mind, it’s a lovely place to spend it.

    • LII and Counting

      Super Bowl LII is tonight.  I’ll be 52 myself this year.  For almost 1/3 of my life the Patriots led by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have been in or contending for the a place in the Super Bowl.  It’s been a memorable run.  Tonight they’ll play in another one.  We all know that it won’t go on forever.  We know that someday they’ll both retire.  Time catches up to all of us eventually, and in sports it seems to happen even faster than in life.

      I watch my dog Bodhi getting older, and I look in the mirror and see it in myself.  There’s something cruel about the lifespan of a dog.  You grow together over the years.  Those first years together are full of energy, discipline, and sometimes anger and frustration.  I’ll always remember the time I planted daffodil bulbs in the garden, sprinkled with bone meal fertilizer.  I came outside later to see Bodhi wagging his tail and my garden looking like a scene out of World War I – large holes dug, dirt and bulbs scattered all over the place.  I questioned having a dog in that moment.  Nowadays I watch Bodhi struggling to stand up and walk up and down stairs, and I wonder how long we’ll have him with us.  I hope for at least one more year, but we’ll see.

      Time is ticking along for all of us, and we’re really only guaranteed this moment.  As I watch Brady get older (on paper anyway), I wonder how long he’ll keep playing.  He’s a major injury or a candid conversation with Giselle away from hanging up the cleats.  Today I’m going to live in the moment, enjoy the Super Bowl for the spectacle it is.  We’ll be with friends and celebrating the Patriots getting there again, and rooting for another win.  And I’ll hope for at least one more year, but we’ll see.