Syncing Up!

I don’t know about you but there are people in this world who grate on my nerves.  Just the sheer act of their breathing can elicit the same response in me as nails on a chalk board.  A screeching, jarring sensation that feels like eternity and the end of the world all at once.  When I encounter said people, I go to extreme lengths to avoid… avoid… AVOID!

But every now and then I find a new tribe member.  Someone who just gets me…. Who sees and accepts the good, the bad and the ugly bits of me. I know, you know, what I am talking about! That person who can finish your sentences and can tell what you are thinking even as the thoughts are forming in your head.  The one who leaves you random messages or sends you an out of the blue card to let you know they are thinking of you.  The mystery books, flowers or magazines that show up at just the right time.  When you find these people it is a rare and treasured gift.

I have had the houour and privilege to have met more than a few who fall in this category.  Even though it shouldn’t, it still surprises me when I dream or randomly think about them, only to get a text or call from them the next day.  It’s like we are cosmically connected…. Synchronous.

There are benefits to being in sync with others.  You don’t have to work as hard to explain your thoughts or feelings, they just get it.  In fact when you are in total sync with someone,  you don’t even need to talk at all.  Silences become yet another thing you share in mutual harmony vs those anxiety ridden stress fests when you are with non-tribe members!

I feel lucky that my tribe is not contained to the just the two legged variety.  My tribe has and continues to contain a wide variety of four-legged members, the occasional tree, a handful of rocks and some specific locations that make my heart sing Hallelujah I am home.   

Over the years Fergus and Vivian have probably been the two four-legged tribe members who have been the most apt at reading my mood and actively work/worked to help me rise out of my pits of despair and frustration.   Vivi would waddle on over and curl up in my lap or by my side and would purr the pissy mood right out of me.  It was hard to stay infuriated when she was around.   She was silky soft and had a purr as loud as a diesel engine.  

Ferg is my living breathing weighted blanket.  He smoothers me with love and has knack of trapping me under him, so that I can’t move and must submit to living in the moment.  Many a time he has started to rise only to sense I still had some latent grrr arrgh in me and he lays back down… “Nope… 15 more minutes of smushing for you.  The world doesn’t like a cranky pants!!!!”  

Can you spot me under the pile of fur?

I could not have made it through Covid without the therapeutic ministrations of the Fjords. 

The welcoming nicker of Jez when I exit my truck fills my heart with an abundance of joy.  

Ingrid who was my shadow for over a year and a half.  She may have joined a new tribe, but she will never be forgotten. 

Boss Bitch Torrie who is the living epitome of don’t take SHHugar from anyone one! I love, love, love her side eye!

And Sola….   Well Sola likes to pretend that we are not part of the same tribe…. Walking away when she realizes there is no food and there might be work involved.  But like Pepe le Pew I “ack ack ack pierce her with the bullets of love” and all of a sudden she remembers just how good it feels to be in a tribe with me.  It means all the more when we finally sync our steps,  a mutual victory, as we head off for our sunset walks down country roads.  It’s a time for connection  and to bond over our mutual dislike of mosquitos and flies.

I didn’t think there could be a pitfall to synchronicity until Brie came along.  It seems that Brie and I are so in sync that even our pee schedules are sympatico. Yes Houston we have a problem!  My bladder sends a signal to my brain that the need to pee is gaining in priority, of course it is right around the time that Brie also needs to go out to relieve herself.  Well now I have a choice to make… who goes first??? Her?  Me???? 

Well let’s face it, it is more embarrassing if the two-legged member pees her pants vs the four legged one.  I head upstairs and pray for speed so that I can finish and get Brie outside before puddle making commences.  Sadly we are not doing so well on that account.  More times than not she follows me upstairs and pees in the bathroom with me.  Yup, synchronized peeing… coming to a dog event near you.    Hmmm typing this out I am now wondering why I haven’t just put her in the tub.  An option to try out next time.

Now you may be thinking, “Suck it up Max! Just take her out first!”  Well I have also tried that, but there is something about the cold that shoots my urgency factor from 100- 1,000,000 in 5.2 seconds.  Picture it.. Max is outside with Brie who is dawdling at the end of the leash and is probably thinking,.. “Let’s see how she likes waiting!!!”.  All of a sudden I have reached the critical threshold.  There is no way I am making it back into the house, let alone up stairs before the Hoover Dam of my bladder explodes.  I am faced with a decision, drop my drawers or pee my pants.  

Well I did it. 

I dropped my drawers and peed in the yard and who peed with me…. Brie!!!  There is something to be said about peer modelling when learning a new skill.  Should this happen in the future and you happen to be walking through the park or down the road and you think… “Is she doing what I think she is doing??? Please be kind and avert your eyes.  Me and my aging bladder thank-you in advance!  

Don’t eat the yellow snow! It’s not my pee HONEST!! Ferg was working on his cursive!!!

This post is dedicated to all my peeps who have buoyed me up during the hard times, were there to celebrate until the Moo Moo cows came home when times exceeded our wildest dreams and for all the moments that have been in between.  Your are and forever will be revered!