Sage's Puppy Love

This weekend I loved watching Sage, my one-year-old grandson, learn which of our three dogs he can really snuggle and cuddle with as he got comfortable at our home.

I loved how he had no fear when all three dogs ran up to him wagging their tails. If he was crawling, he would sit up and look them directly in the eyes, reaching his arms out to each one of them.

Once they checked him out, he started checking them out. Over and over he checked again to see if Giz was still his pillow, Taz the one who licked him and ran away, and Raz the one who told him to leave him alone with a firm, but low growl. Then he would check again to see if they had changed from one time of day to another. The youngest dog, Taz, still loved to lick Sage, run around him, and be close to him without Sage being able to grab him.  If Taz is too slow, when Sage advances then he scoots away-somehow knowing it is up to him to protect himself.

Raz, at ten, is not so kind. As he has aged, his own physical pain has shortened his willingness to be kind to both Giz and Taz. This weekend I watched him closely as he did the same distancing and limit setting. I especially was amazed to see how easily Sage understood without any fear or tears. He just knew and backed away.

Giz, our thirteen-year-old dog was the love bunny for Sage. He became the pillow, the favorite dog bed, the toy that Sage could grab and hold tight. They found each other. Both loved the touch, the comfort, the connection that transcended words.

The 40th Wedding Anniversary

Forty years, it amazes me. I know when I married at the age of 21 that I had no thoughts beyond loving Dan and being ready to start the next phase of my life with him.  I have a vivid memory of the early months as we learned, conversation by conversation, how we wanted to handle money, communicating about social plans, housework, and exploring our future goals. These events occurred as often by one of us breaking some unknown family rule and the often confusing conversation following it. Luckily, acknowledging our differences gave us a safe baseline to create our own family rules.

As I look back, I realize the bottom line is time flew by.  I have become totally enamored with the stages of life. We had a great eight years as a double income, no children, couple. We got to know each other, played hard and vacationed well. I finished my master's degree and got my license as a clinical social worker. After twenty years with two children at home, we briefly had the empty nest. It disappeared in two years with moving my dad in followed by moving Dan's mom in. We discovered the joys, sorrows, and importance of becoming an extended family. I understood loving deeply and profoundly through that experience.  There is nothing like witnessing death to inform a couple on making commitments.

We are committed to each other. The more important something is to me, the more important it is to Dan and vice versa.  I love how well we play together, enjoy our home, and work on our relationship.  Whether we are arguing about our priorities and differences, we work it out and try to honor both of our needs.

Now we get to share all those years with amazing adult children, their wives, and our grandchildren.