Our boys have never known any better.
There is a life without a dog. It beats rhythmically on its own agenda, unaware of what it is missing and blissfully plodding forward missing one of two feet.
Add a dog, and what you get is remarkable. A technicolor tonality enriches every emotional panorama: the lonely, quiet house suddenly snuffs and barks and licks and scratches; lint becomes your dryer; cold feet take warmth, nestled in the curve of a snoring, furry belly; you rest together, under pillows, freshly frayed and unfeathered.
To nobody is the difference more clear than the boy, especially if he lives in or near the country, or within walking distance of a wild green space. Beside the dog the transformation takes place: boy becomes leader. Dog follows, and the wild world at their feet become a rich adventure.
Our current adventure began with dog, before marriage or glimmer of child. Seti, a sausage-bellied Jack Russell Terrier puppy from Corpus Christi, whose stud father chased squirrel in Germany while his mother demonstrated tenacious agility with a frisbee by way of petite and sturdy good looks.
A prodigy in either realm, to this day Seti rarely rests without a tongue on a frisbee and an eye on the tree limbs. Back then, he gave us the balance we were craving, the right foot for the left, that connection with the wilder world outside our cubicle, the excuse to be outside several times a day.Today, he gives the gift to our kids.
Of course, the addition of both boys trumped any amount of intense acid technicolor that the dog could have contributed (and how he did try!) but after combining both cards into our fold, we cashed in on one of the most charming scenarios in the history of mankind: the story of a boy and his dog.
and follow the adventure:
I was rereading this to make sure my post was different. I’m sitting here tearing a little because the boy dog relationship is one of the greatest in life.