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| Don't they know I miss them already? |
Reflections on leaving Gizmo for a month with a dog sitter when we travel to Chicago and France, culminating with a week in a Paris apartment, thanks to our daughter, who apparently not only wants to talk to us, but wants to live with us in an apartment in Paris: Grace did something very right when raising her as a single mother. . Both of us need to go to France. If one of us went to France and the other stayed at home with the dog, both of us would think the other was completely crazy, more than one card short of a full deck. If we cancel the trip, Russell would, with justification, think of having us committed to a loony bin, where we would sit around with the other inmates showing pictures of our dog. . More problems: The dog sitter is a stranger. I have never met him until the day before we leave. He will stay part time in our home and because he has a Cocker Spaniel, part time with both dogs in his apartment. $30 a night, 30 nights, to protect a dog we obviously love. . The problems, in my mind, center more on Gizmo than anything else. Will Gizmo know us when we return? Will he miss us? Will we have to re-teach him about our ways? Will he forget his training? Will he have accidents indoors? Will he forget where he likes to go outdoors? Will the dog sitter, Daryl, take him to his favorite spots? . Will Gizmo be happy? Will the dog learn bad habits? And what about us? We will surely miss him, but how much? Will we talk about him? Reminisce? . Will he be safe? Healthy? Happy? Will he suffer psychologically? Is leaving the dog for less than a month driving me crazy? Am I beginning to seem like a “cat lady,” one of those women who have 24 cats, who talks to them and, when she dies at home, they nibble on her?
“That's the only dog I know who can smell someone just thinking about food.” Charles M. Schulz
