Reggie, my heart therapy

December, 2005, Sam, Joey & Reggie

He sees me

June 27, 2014. He loves a freshly cut lawn. He does a down-dog-stretch before squeezing through the rectangular flap of a door. Outside. Sniffing a path, he finds a patch of sun and flops onto his side. Lying still for a minute, he soaks up the warmth then rolls onto his stomach. Sphinx-like, his front legs out, chest high, ears alert, nose twitching, reading the air. He starts when a dragonfly skips by him, and I laugh. I’ve been watching him from the patio, learning from him how to be in the moment. He sees me and stands up, tail wagging. Making his way back through his magnetic door, he prances over to me and presents himself for a back rub.

I knead him from ear to tail. How’re you feeling today, Reggie? He is entranced. When I stop, he licks my hand. More, please. So I continue, and he seems to smile. I check beneath his fur. The infected lesions are healed, but the scabs can still be felt along the length of his spine.

I took him to the vet in May, a few weeks after I posted this:

I got my coffee and noticed then, that my dog was staring up at me with big apologetic eyes. Not for the death of my fridge, I’m pretty sure. Although he does sense when I’m sad or stressed. No, he was apologizing for the big, messy, grassy, puddle of puke on the carpet.

“Aww, Reggie. It’s okay,” I told him. How could I be angry at that face? Meditating and writing were moving to the bottom of my list. Deep breath.

Deanna

Poem #27: “Dove”

After the mourning
Dove leaves me with a question
Who-are-you – you – you?

Deanna

Image Source: © 2013 TouTouke (Agnes Scholiers), http://www.rgbstock.com/user/TouTouke

Poem #20: “Zoo”

Zookeeper’s fingers, relaxed

Splayed

Leafy chameleon, sticky toes

Stayed

Don’t be loud, touch

Gently

Note his eyes, orbit

Independently

Scaly thing, never misses

A fly

Spellbound children, eyes

Up high

On the mini-dinosaur’s

Gripping tail

In and around knotty branches

Going pale

 

We touched a snake, a chinchilla

Even a skink

But not the wolf spider—No way!

What do you think?

 

We washed off our hands and waited

In line

Ate our brown bag lunch in a sea

Of pine

The big yellow birds were waiting

Nearby

Line up now children, let’s all say

Goodbye

Deanna

Phrases #19: “Powerful”

By Sam K. (age 8)

• Warm spring rain
• Cool blast of air
• I’d give up anything for you.
• Hot summer sand
• Warm, green ocean water
• Let the force be with you
• I love you deeper than the ocean
• With great power, comes great responsibility

Poem #15: “Fly”

There was a total lunar eclipse today (Tuesday, April 15th) that turned the moon a coppery red. A blood-moon. And it was one of four total eclipses that will take place in North America within the next year and a half, NASA says.

Only wish I could have stayed awake to see it!

Deanna

Poem #6: “Nature”

By Joey K. (6th grade)

I am a rock
Lifeless and quiet
I wear no shoes nor socks
And can’t go on a diet

I am a tree
Standing tall and thick
I give birds and squirrels glee
My shape is much like a toothpick

I am a mushroom
Just one part of my family
All funguses take over the dead, I assume
And grow around merrily

I am an eagle
Watching everything with my keen eye
Sitting atop a tree, acting regal
Like an MIG spy

I am nature
Where anything can live or die
And when you decide to look around make sure
To keep an open eye

My Butterfly: An Elegy

Landing on the Lantana beside my driveway and posing, a Passion Butterfly

Then when I was distraught
And could not speak,
Sidelong, full on my cheek,
What should that reckless zephyr fling
But the wild touch of thy dye-dusty wing!

I found that wing broken to-day!
For thou are dead, I said,
And the strange birds say.
I found it with the withered leaves
Under the eaves.

– From My Butterfly: An Elegy (published in 1894) by Robert Frost, American poet (and willower)