My salvation lies in your love

If I told you things I did before
told you how I used to be
would you go along with someone like me
if you knew my story word for word
had all of my history
would you go along with someone like me

I did before and had my share
it didn't lead nowhere
I would go along with someone like you
it doesn't matter what you did
who you were hanging with
we could stick around and see this night through
                         -Pete, Bjorn, and John "Young Folks"



Animals. They have been the ongoing theme of my life. They are the reason I’m here. And in this process I have my boys, Strauss and Gandalf. I’ve watched them closely, been a little too over protective, freaked out over little things that are no big deal. However, they go about their day as normal as if we were on Armstrong Avenue in Knoxville. We, as humanity, should embrace the dog mentality, or for that matter the animal mentality.



My boys were loaded up in a car 2 weeks ago and driven to a strange house, and for the first few days were somewhat abandoned, as I took on Museum Marathon. And outside of the infamous Conrad sand eating incident they act as if nothing has changed. They act as if this has been their home from Day One.


Conrad is my landlord and lady’s two year old son. Conrad has, well had, a special synthetic sand that he plays, played, with. I noticed that both Strauss and Gandalf had some interesting shit. It reminded me of the “play dough” stuff that Nickelodeon came out with when I was a kid. I think it was called Floam. Apparently Gandalf found the container and chewed his way into it. And in true brotherly fashion both boys feasted. For 2 days I had dog poo that looked like this.

The versatility and genuine care and adoration they show me is amazing. Strauss and Gandalf know that I won’t lead them astray, and in return Strauss acts as my own person guard. Gandalf acts as an ambassador. Although they are 488 miles away from “home,” they are right at home.

It doesn’t matter what you did. We could stick around and see this night through. My boys. My life. I pray I have some fraction of the compassion and versatility of dogs. I pray that I can look at every morning as they do, with a wagging tail, and an excitement to just go sniff the grass.

Cheers.

By they way, read "Dog Years" by Mark Doty.  It's great.  Holly, you have copy coming in the mail.