As Puppies

Last night I had a dream that I don't remember at all. Zero. Zilch. As I was waking up in the morning, my foggy brain was clawing its way to consciousness. I could feel thoughts sorting around in there, trying to figure out where I was and what was going on. The wispy dream ideas were intertwined with my awareness of the concrete objects around me. My brain was determining what was what, as I shook off the sleep and started to wake up.

You see, after hip surgery this summer, I had spent many weeks sleeping downstairs on the sofa. There were several reasons to skip the stairs and make my little nest on the sofa in the family room for a while.  I had just recently transitioned back to the bed in my upstairs bedroom, bringing along an extraordinary number of pillows for propping and supporting my body parts.

Late last night, a violent storm came out of nowhere. Our elderly dog Jazz was quite undone with the crashing noises & fluctuating air pressure. She was terrified & wanted everyone to know it. She, too, found it difficult to navigate our stairs, so she paced and whined loudly on the first floor of our house. About 2:00am, I bundled up my supply of pillows and other necessities and moved back downstairs to the sofa where I could more easily comfort her through the storm.

Hours later, when I began to wake, as I've described, I was a little confused about where I was. Before I even opened my eyes, though, one clear thought seared itself into my brain. I'm not sure where this thought came from or why it became a declarative statement in my mind. Perhaps there were remnants of a forgotten dream and traces of the hubbub from the middle of the night transfer.  As I woke, my first concise thought this morning, loud and clear, very emphatically, was.....

"That's not who we are, or who we want to be as puppies."

Um. What?

I said, “That's not who we are, or who we want to be as puppies.”

Ok, I cannot tell you how much I laughed and how much I enjoyed this pronouncement. Day after day I see and hear things happen all around me. Things that seem completely inconsiderate, or ugly, or downright mean. Things that make me think that we could do better. Things that make me say, “That’s not who we are.”  And, after all, who DO we want to be? At the heart of it all, don’t we want to be considered good-natured, loyal, huggable, and dependable? Don't we want to get along with others, bring a smile to people’s faces, love unconditionally, and snuggle closely with our pack? Isn’t that “Who we want to be as puppies?”

I’ll let you think about that for a minute while I segue into another concept.

Do you ever have thoughts pop into your head and you wonder, where did that come from? I assume you do, because I often do. I know that you can practice controlling your thoughts, formulating them, pushing things aside, and concentrating on specific items. But you can't keep something from slipping in unexpectantly. You can’t keep it from landing in your brain. If you deem the thought to be irrelevant or harmful, you can dismiss it, or squash it, or otherwise remove it from consideration. You can control what you think about or what you dwell on.

The problem often comes when people speak without thinking first. Without running the filter and evaluating whether this thing that just popped into their head is worth saying. Many arguments are filled with words that slip out before the person has a chance to think. Sticks and stones, as we all know.

Sometimes, the words aren’t particularly harmful, but instead, embarrassing. I was reminded recently of a teenage faux pas. Many years ago, I was in the car with my parents and my sister as we traveled somewhere. We had been having a lively discussion about some topic or other. During a lull in the conversation, I realized that there was one thing I needed more information about, so I called out, “Wait! I have a chicken!” A chicken???  “I mean, a Question. I have a Question!” I don’t know if I ever got my question answered, because everyone basically lost it. A chicken. I have no idea why I blurted that out. So, that became a thing. Until I moved away on my own, my family always resurrected the Chicken Statement. I don’t know how many times someone at my house said, “I have a chicken.” It was all in good fun, and we got a lot of mileage out of it.

Another phrase entered our family vocabulary recently when we were discussing movie releases. We were talking about fact vs fiction, describing the genres as actual stories or made-up stories. One family member said, “So, is this movie Based on True?”  Based on True??? If you are not fluent in English, you might not realize that it would be more proper to say “Is this story True?” or “Is this based on Truth?” But, the phrase Based on True immediately became a mainstay in our family lingo. It's best delivered in a fast, clipped tone.

Yep, that’s the kind of thing that happens when you speak before you think. I am well aware. In addition, I struggle with vocabulary, and often say things I don't mean, or use words inappropriately. I misspeak a lot. It sometimes comes out wrong. I'm working on it, but I have a-ways to go.

Now, back to the puppies. When I was very young, Disney’s original animated movie 101 Dalmatians came out. At the time, we actually had a pet dalmatian named Princess. Princess was an unusual dalmatian, because her coat was reversed—she was black with white spots. I was not involved in the whos, whys, and hows, but we apparently bred her with another dalmatian, because she delivered a litter of purebred dalmatian puppies. I guess my parents were working on a side gig of selling puppies. I remember very little about that time period—I was, like, 3 years old—but I do have pictures that document the experience.

My dad went into full marketing mode to find prospective buyers. Here is my sister manning the puppy barrel.  Have you ever seen anything that cute?

Cute puppies are a good way to end this article. You've just seen photographic evidence to prove it.

Please think before you speak. Please allow new thoughts to come into your head so that you don’t always get stuck in one frame of mind. But, please evaluate those thoughts and consider their validity. Discern what is Based on True and what isn’t. Sure, like puppies, we make messes, and we are slow to learn, and we often forget the rules. But, if we have good hearts, we can bring joy into the world, dontcha think? Shed negative thoughts and doomsday speech. Don’t attack, humiliate, or ostracize others just so you can have your way or push your agenda.

"That’s not who we are, or who we want to be as puppies."

This is my new motto.

Feel free to comment below if You Have a Chicken.