Transitions

While this was not the snowiest winter on record, not by a long shot, I still dutifully donned my yaxtrax every evening when I would go out after dinner with Henry.  We live in the center of a small little hilltown that has a major state route that becomes Main Street for about half a mile.  Unfortunately, that makes for a trafficky little stretch of road that people seem to be in such a hurry to get over.  And that makes for a terrible accident waiting to happen.  (Coal black dog on poorly lit blacktop road that has very little in the way of sidewalks.)  Needless to say, Henry NEVER walks around our neighborhood without a leash on.  A couple of years ago, my father gave both Chris and I reflective orange vests to wear just for the purpose of walking at night.  I bought one for Henry as well last year.  It serves two purposes:  He lights up like a Christmas Tree when car headlights catch his reflectors and he stands out like some awful, unnatural intruder in the woods during regular hunting season (No body can confuse him for a black bear while he is wearing that outfit! ) while we are out riding the trails.

We had our largest storm of the season just three measly weeks ago.  We lost power for almost three days.  Thank goodness for the generator we installed right before Christmas.  And now, I just came inside from walking Henry at 3:00pm and the snow is almost completely gone, temp is pushing 65 at least, perennials are starting to sprout up and the yaxtrax have been turned in for sneakers.  Henry is like a lightswitch.  Two weeks ago he was VERY content to curl up next to the woodstove and sleep for hours.  The last couple of days, he cannot get enough outside time, every sound, smell, animal sighting, causes him such internal stimulation and chaos, it makes me think he's drinking all the leftover morning coffee:  he's wired.

But I feel very wired as well with this weather.  I feel like I'm coming out of a LONG fog and starting the next chapter of my life.  It has been almost an entire year that I have been laid off from a job that I really loved.  The layoff came completely out of the blue:  very, VERY unexpected.  Funny how life can work sometimes....Henry's first year with us had me experiencing strong bouts of guilt going to work and leaving him here.  I actually resorted at times to bring Henry with me.  He was so adorable as a pup and so sociable, that there were no objections.  In fact, we actually instituted 'take your puppy to work on fridays' policy.  Nevertheless, I would fantasize about being able to stay home with Henry full time, much like I did when I had my first child twenty plus years ago.  The whole thing gave me new reason to reflect on 'be careful what you wish for'.  Anyway, today I found myself taking giant steps towards my application process to graduate school having been inspired by Henry's energy.  The question of 'what's next?' has been answered with a profound sense that going back to school is the ONLY next step. 

Thank you Henry!!