Brothers and sisters
6:00 a.m. sounds wake me.
No alarms necessary.
Our house is noisy and scheduled.
It won’t be like this for long.
Abbie’s up ’cause Heather’s up.
Routine, Abbie likes routine.
Her house, her bowl, her place on the couch.
I get that.
I hear her fancy little beagle steps (we call it trickling) making her way to check her food bowl then on to her soft place in the den.
Bed to couch, what a life!
Then little, big brother wakes.
Low moan growl heard from my end of the house becomes….”Oh, time to get up…Yay…come get me” bark!
Good pup, outside to pee, checks his bowl, then back inside slips into the kitchen slinking around to check sister’s bowl.
Not time for food yet, okay.
Grandma’s doing her quiet thing…. I’ll wait.
Colt, Austin named him…somehow not knowing a colt is in fact a small horse.
Name fits, trust me.
A Christmas request…last Christmas before college from Austin.
Craziness, yes.
Doing crazy, unnecessary things for my quite self-sufficient children is a choice for me, a choice I call demonstrating love. What better send-off I say, into their own little nests , than to plant remembrances of intentional love my priority ? Creating little things that upon recall might elicit a response of
“Mama didn’t have to do that, but she did.”
Things like getting Colt, the big Brown dog much like that red one he loved named Clifford.
Sweet, goofy, yet obedient to treats, chocolate lab flopping into the kitchen on big feet spread bigger every day.
Abbie, frustrated with her new brother, takes his place on soft, old quilt I have added to protect my mama’s old chair.
Fresh, clean and crisp.
I smile and
Cover her with quilt. She likes safe, close cover. Rub her back as she answers with a little sweet beagle Abbie sigh.
Abbie decides this place, this chair, “It’s mine”.
Sweet Abbie. She’s adjusting. She’s keeping up.
She’s trying to understand.
Barking in rhythm protecting me last night when a big black cat was spotted by Colt.
Loud, strong, get our of our yard barking, both warning the stoic and stubborn cat “Get out of our yard! My grandma’s home alone!”
Abbie barking louder and longer as if to say, “Hey, I was here first.”
Abbie waiting in the window for Heather, taking turns sitting for treats and demanding soft head rubs from Austin or reassurances from Greg.
Abbie is adjusting. We all are.
Colt is a lesson in transition…in love
and tolerance
and acceptance
and grace
and patience….
Colt looks towards his chair, head tilted, careful not to upset Abbie…just curious about why she’s moved to the chair.
And then he meanders over to her spot, settles there as if to say ” Oh, okay, this works.”
Dogs and siblings…Siblings and dogs.
Love and transitions
Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. I Peter 4:8
Lisa Anne Tindal 