a dog's life

Everyone knows that I have the rare and formally awesome ability to communicate with dogs. They get me, and I understand them. Up until just 3 minutes ago, the source of this gift was unknown to me. But then as I sat having a deep conversation about life, love, philosophy and chew toys with my own four legged friend, I was overcome with the grief of having to leave him in just 5 weeks. After I go to France, I will fly straight to California, and after the spring semester I will either be in LA or New York to begin an internship which could and will propel my career into amazingness in just 3 short months. Forget the fact that I have no idea what this career will be, as he is still a faceless blob in my personified mind -the point is, my Marley and I will be separated for an indefinite amount of time stretching out into the abyss. This may seem overly dramatic, but Marley is my bestie and I just can't see my life without him for more than a couple month stretches at a time.

Karen, the woman who birthed me, is slightly jealous of the tears I'm shedding for a dog. What she doesn't understand is that I can Skype her, I can write her emails, I can Facebook chat with her, I can call her or text her. Karen and I will only be separated physically, but our relationship won't be detrimentally affected. If anything, not seeing each other will restore the warm and fuzzies we seemed to have lost over a summer in close proximity of arguing about vacuuming, television show preferences, and the definition of "clean" (mine being straight from the dictionary, and her's in a psychologist's manual listed under OCD).

But the relationship I have with my dog requires that I be there to take him for a run or feed him leftovers or snuggle with him at bedtime. Marley doesn't have a cell phone, nor does he have much patience for the DogBook account I set up for him through Facebook. So without my physical presence, I don't exist to my pooch. To him I represent that run, those leftovers, a cuddle sesh. Dogs need a physical presence to feel the relationship. I'm not so far off from the canines in that respect. In my romantic relationships (with men, not dogs--I feel this is a necessary distinction) I too need those concrete experiences to solidify my bond with another.

I once had a stuffed animal dog that said "Love me! Pet me! Feed me!" when you squeezed its tail. That's all a dog needs in life...and coincidently, the same suffices for me.