…a confession…about naps…….

Something that I have to admit here.  I don’t feel guilty about it, at all, but if you want to get to know Gerry and me, you must know this little thing….

I LOVE taking naps with my dog.  I don’t know WHERE in the last 5 years this started to happen, but I highly suspect I stayed home sick from school one day and Gery joined me in the “guest room” on the first floor, where I used to sleep often, especially on nights I needed to be near the bathroom. Keep in mind, it was just the two of us in a 3 bedroom house, that has a full ground level garage/basement, and a small upstairs with the two other bedrooms.  Alone, I barely went up there.

Well, somewhere in between the fall we had no power in late October for 5 days due to a freak ice storm, and he started to sleep with me downstairs, until now…that has become HIS room…not the guest room, not my mother’s future “live with me” room, that she  wallpapered and picked out the curtains for.  It’s HIS room, that he WILL share with you.

As a school teacher that still follows a traditional calendar, I also have about 7 weeks in the summer off.  Due to the way I budget my money,  I am able to be unemployed during those weeks.  Since Gerry came into my life, my summers have changed in a happy and every summer is new kind of way.  He is a “come with” dog, and he KNOWS when I’m getting ready, in August, to go back to work.  As soon as I tell him he can’t “come with” it’s “that time of the year” again  {which is why I believe I barely noticed his pain/change in mood due to OSE this August}.

Well, somewhere over the last three years I started taking afternoon naps with him on the bed in HIS room, which gets a nice breeze and no sun in the summer.  It was the first time since I was young that I enjoyed “taking a nap”.  We would often just lie down “for a minute” and wake up three hours later, neither of us feeling guilty for a second. I realized early on that this was a fantastic relaxing time for myself over the summer, and I never refused when Gerry wanted to sleep in the afternoon.

It became a LOVELY habit!

Dogs teach us what is important in life; I truly believe this to be true, as I get long in the tooth.

Ever since his amputation, I haven’t been able to let him JUMP, and that ruled out HIS bed.  Even if I took it off of the frame, he wouldn’t be able to look out of the window, which is 1/2 the reason he loves HIS bed.  he loves to oversee “his land”.  His hallway has been blocked off since early September, but since his sutures are out now, AND he’s had round one of chemo, AND his balance is stellar, I’m not as strict about the hallway being blocked off.  Thus, he has jumped UP and OFF the bed once or twice this past week.

(Me, pretending to be sleeping while taking this photo 🙂

WELL!

Today I had the day “off” from work due to a religious holiday and Gerry and I got to take a nap together!!!!  It was one of the BEST feelings waking up with him next to me, and feel him pushing against me yawning and stretching (in a newly learned way). Maybe I’m strange, but I don’t mind the way my dog smells in any which way.  I love his feet smells, and his yawny breath in the morning as well as “Morning Mom” kisses.  I’d like to think it’s science.  Teacher with NO children and dog that she loves as if they were one = life as I know it.  I can not TELL you how much that 2 and 1/2 hour snooze did me today…more emotionally than anything.  I have 2 days to work with my students and then the weekend comes.  I got work done earlier this week.  Tomorrow is going to be a GOOD day!

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