TGIF

It used to be that the way each week came to a close for me involved a stress intensity that was dang near unbearable. The former Job #1 (or was it Job #2) was on a Monday and Friday schedule, which meant that anything that wasn’t finished on Monday. . .plus everything that came in over the next three days, plus any new projects for Friday. . .had to be done before the end of the day, and oh, while you're at breakneck speed and taking down the new version of the day's to-do list at 4:00 pm, please punch the creativity button half a dozen times also.

Today the items in my inbox were Charlie, Oscar, Loki, Matty, Buckley, Bing, Kramer, Davie and Foxy, Gem and Farley, Wolfie, Louise, Jenkins, Riley, Toffee and Banner, Rocky, Sadie, Trout, Bodie and Trace, Kodi, Layla, Vivi, Oliver, Kati, Dewey, Gilbert, Sydney, Alyeska and Minnesota, Spice, Julius, Bella, Dubbs, Pup-Pup and Sweetie, Ruger, and Brinkley. In today’s group of 40 dogs there were 28 distinct breeds or breed mixes, in all stages of life and learning. The job is pretty simple: attend. In all the ways that word can be defined. The complexity is in the endless variety of energy flows, constantly shifting and adapting, sometimes clashing mightily (god, I really hate dog fights) before returning to an equilibrium. It’s fascinating to be part of that independent organism of relationship that won’t ever again exist in precisely the same way as it existed today.

As the oldest (sadly, the oldest by far) person on the crew, I feel my years at the end of the day. I get home pretty tired and aching, and yet I don’t crash on the couch in a befuddled coma, like I used to every Friday. Instead, I get home and I. . .mow the yard and I do the laundry and I clean the kitchen and I give Hunter a good grooming. And I know I can get up early tomorrow and get into the list of many other things that need to be done because I won’t be using all my energy trying to recover from psychic trauma from Friday or preparing for the Very Special Encore presentation on Monday. The thing about dog fights is that when they’re over, they’re over.