How are my Spirits Today?

There have been many pets at our house over the years, a varied selection of cats, some with tails and some less fortunate
Ones, who for some reason became separated from their tails. One in particular, was a fixed male (we never told him) whose playful nature earned “Bandit” another trip to the vet that eventually led to the removal of his tail after it became infected from a dog bite. I think we had him 13 years. One day or week or however it took him to cover his territory, he just didn’t come home and we never had a clue what happened. Our latest pet loss was a loss of two dogs with a month, one “Lucy” a Chihuahua we inherited from our daughter after she became allergic of her in her first pregnancy. “Lucy” the darter would play by running around in circles as fast as she could dart left, then right all at top speed with legs just a blur. She had been on meds for some time for a heart problem. After ten years just two days before Christmas she passed away. Not long after, early January “Shilo” a red heeler we had for 12 years on his last escape from the back yard was hit by a car. I buried them both side by side in a nice shady spot in the back yard. Along with pets and children running down the same hallway are the many grandchildren who scuff the same floor bounce off the same walls and slam the same doors in the thirty something years in this house. Two of our three children were born after we bought this house, and all three were raised here. As with all homes you spend years in, memories are in every room indeed every square inch of it. I guess that leads me to area of familiarity I have developed over the years that seem to tease me just outside my peripheral vision, as I am usually but not always alone. I am often at my laptop where I have positioned it in the kitchen where I can get a good wireless signal and be comfortable while I type and glance at the baseball games or some interesting show on a small flat screen that snuggles nicely on the counter just in view. Suddenly “Lucy” will dart just out of the corner of my eye, or so it seems, yet I still take a long look thinking I will catch full view next time but she knows I’m waiting so I won’t see her until she suddenly darts through the other door. “Bandit” will stroll across the darkened dinning room and disappear when I cut the light on. Often on stormy nights one of the grandkids will call me from the “Kids” room just after a loud crack of thunder, sometimes I even answer. I think I’ve even had a visit from my grand son John Wesley who passed away while playing in the front yard, by leaving his butt impression in the bed cover on his bed and I am not sure if it is in my head but I hear the faint laughter unmistakably his from his room. Now I don’t want to come across as a “case” but these glimpses from the past and sounds of laughter and joy lift me, and I guess those Spirits lift my Spirits and fling me headlong into past times and good times and fill me with a warm glow like a blanket that is this house and all it has meant to all of the voices and attachments that come with it. We have a new dog now, “Sandy” another Chihuahua who loves kids and grownups alike and the middle of September A new grandson who likely will call “Poppy” to bring him a glass of water or start the DVD.