Holding Space

I am head over heels in love with our dog, Rabbit. We rescued her just about a year and a half ago, and she has been such a wonderful addition to our family. I photograph her almost every day, I'm sure. I don't even post all the pictures I take of her. Sometimes, I take pictures of her paws as she stretches them out next to me, or her tiny little teeth when she falls asleep with her mouth open a little.

I'm simply fascinated by how beautiful she is. She's absolutely gorgeous - no doubt about that, but she's so beautiful inside. When I get up in the morning, I know that I'll soon hear her tap, tap, tapping down the hallway. She strrrrrrrretches her front legs, and then her back legs, shakes so hard that her collar goes all backward and the jingling of her tags sound like Santa Claus approaching, and then we say good morning.

She holds space for me. She enjoys keeping me company. She watches me. She follows me from room to room until I'm ready to sit down next to her on the couch.  She is fiercely protective, doting, silly and playful. When I'm on the couch, she lays as close to me as she possibly can, if not on me. I don't think she realizes how big she is. Sometimes I lose feeling in my legs, but I let her lay there as long as possible because I love being close to her. 

I walk Rabbit on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings, and as hard as it is to get up sometimes, especially during the winter months, I love having that time with her. I put my earbuds in, and I dance and sing out loud while I walk her, and she doesn't get embarrassed. We pass by a house where two dogs are often outside, and they make her nervous. She walks down that block soooooo slowly . . . but I have her back. She looks out for me, and I look out for her.

I never included pets in my writing before because I never really connected with a pet like I have with Rabbit. When I was growing up, we mostly had cats for mouse control, and the cat we had for the longest wasn't very friendly (Peaches - she's the cat from my Vicks Vaporub story. I'm not proud of that, but I digress . . . ).  I don't know if I'll include a dog in my novel, but I just might because I know Rabbit and she's awesome.