Folks who don’t have a clue might think it’s odd that a dog is opening up her couch for comfort and
counseling in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, but anybody with a slobber of sense can see it’s a
little crazy in the world right now.
In fact, from what I can tell the world needs some really DEEP and
some really WIDE couches. But try not to panic - some things are still the same.
We went for a walk in our usual way, stopped at the neighbor’s driveway and picked up Greta’s mom. We used to pick up Greta the golden retriever, too, but Greta went to heaven and now the moms say she is still with us but only in spirit. I liked it better when she was with us in dog, because she was never annoying but rather just spent all of her time trying to sit on people’s feet.
"Should we walk six feet apart?" my mom asks Bobbie.
Six feet. I hear that everywhere we go now. Even on the hiking trail.
“Ope, sorry. I’ll just scoot by you here and get six feet away again.” We live in Minnesota so people say “ope” a lot, although nobody seems to know exactly where it came from. I think it started with ‘oops’ that got shortened to ‘oop’ and then got morphed in with ‘okay’ and you wind up with ‘ope’. But what does a dog know, except that if I hear that word then Mom either dropped something or we are about to hurry past another human.
Even with the corona virus lurking, we stop along the way and talk to the people walking in the neighborhood. The humans still stand a bit away from each other, but Ellie and I don’t care. We go right up and say hi, especially if it’s Izzy’s mom – she always carries treats in a little bag tied at her waist.
“Oh, hello! Ope, sorry – I’ll stay six feet back. I know, it’s so weird. Your husband lost his job? Oh, I’m sorry. And so many businesses closing for good. I’m worried about my dad at the senior home. Your mom is lonely, too? Yes, it’s really hard.”
There are so many new words I’d never heard before, and all of them said with a bit of angst as if they had flaked off of their human hearts and floated out to be examined in the light of friendship. COVID. Social Distancing. Pandemic. Furloughed. Unemployment. Food Bank. Mortgage. Postponed. Canceled. They say the scary words the way I walk on slippery rocks. Gingerly. Looking for the best way forward.
Since this whole COVID thing started, I think my mom sometimes gets a little sad because the kids don’t come over like they used to. Once in a while I hear their voices in the room, though, and Mom chases after me with the I-Pad. “Sophie, look! Here are the kids!” and then she chases after Ellie “Look, Ellie, look!” but I just go lie down on my bed. I can hear their voices but I can’t lay my head on their stomach or roll over for their hand on my belly so it’s not the same. A voice in the room is not the same as a hand on the head, and I can’t wait for them to start coming over again.
The one thing that seems to be helping the humans is that warmer weather is here, and the hiking trails and garden paths are lined with flowers. My mom likes to touch the plants and make little cooing sounds “Ooh, a showy orchid!” but I prefer interacting with plants in a different way. I call it the “Floral Flop”. It’s a relaxing yet exhilarating sensation where one just plops over onto cool green foliage, inhaling the deep mysteries of life wrapped up in little bundles of chlorophyll and diatomaceous earth. I think humans should try it instead of getting so excited about it.
“Sophie! Omigosh, what are you doing? That’s a maiden hair fern! C’mon, honey, get up! Get up!” Somedays I comply, and somedays I roll over onto my back and give my best confused stare until she sighs and moves on down the path.
Ope, sorry. Were you talking to me?
So even though things are different these days, a lot of things are the same. There are still trails to hike, treats to beg for, and elephant-eared hostas all plumped up and ready for a pup to plop down upon.
“Sophie! Omigosh! Get out of that flower bed!”
My mom has taught me a lot of things since I arrived here at the house. Maybe someday I can teach her to appreciate the Floral Flop. Now excuse me – I hear a Japanese painted fern calling for me to come take a nap and I’m all over it.
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