For The Nike

A conversation at my house ten years ago:

“I want to get a puppy”.

“I don’t want a puppy”.

“Tough, I’m getting a puppy anyway”.

That puppy represented my first insistence that I be allowed to be myself. That puppy became my best friend and joy at the bleakest hour of my life. That puppy is an old geezer now. He’s asleep beside me, under a fleecy blankie on the futon. His favorite spot. Beside me, not the futon. The old geezer would be happy in an igloo if he was beside me.

The last ten years have been hard on the Nike. I did not bring him into an easy world. The first five years he helped me mentally escape a life I did not love. The next five years he helped me physically and emotionally escape that life and with unwaivering loyalty he supported my lame attempts to start a new one. That puppy has lived in more locations than I like to count. I’ve made mistakes in his care that have nearly cost him his life more than once. And yet his favorite place in the world is right here, next to me, under his blankie. Actually, it’s my blankie, but I am privileged to share it with him.

A conversation at my house about ten weeks ago:

“I want to get a puppy”.

“A puppy”?

“Yes, Nike needs a friend and there’s one available in Minnesota. I can check her out at the National in April and bring her home then if I like her”.

“I like dogs. I suppose we’d better get the yard fenced then.”

It goes without saying that Tara will have a much better life than the Nike. But he’s laying here, twitching his toes in dreamland, and I think he is happy.

A conversation at my house this morning:

Rob - “By the way, we’re taking care of Taz (Pomeranian) for the weekend.”

Me – “Good to know”.

Our household environment is like that. Kids and dogs come and go. People are in and out. The cats stalk the fish. Stan stalks the Nike. Nike sleeps with Nick. He is learning that I am not the only person in the world that will take care of him. Others feed him, walk him, take him to the grocery store. He is never alone, there is always at least a cat for company. And soon, hopefully, there will be Tara to terrorize him.

We are happy here.

J