There's a new paradigm! in A New Beginning

I had worried that Guinness was going to be sortuv sad, missing Joey. Joey wasn’t his “main person”....I suppose that’s ME…but Joey plays with him in a more rollicking way, and he always slept on Joey’s bed. Since Joey got his driver’s license back, and his good job, and the depression he’d been in lifted, it was even Joey taking him for the most walks! Guinness was always soooooooo excited when Joey came home from work each day!

I knew, obviously, that Guinness adores me and loves Joe too, but we are “the parents.” I thought we might be a bit too sedentary to keep him being the happy, smiling dog he has always been!

The first day that Joey wasn’t here at all, Guinness did seem a bit down. But since then I’ve found some new ways of playing that wear HIM out without wearing ME out....and he’s happy and smiling again. :o) !! He was happy when Joey came over for dinner this evening, but it was pretty laid-back, as if he understands that Joey lives somewhere else now, and while Joey is still his friend, his HOMIES are Mudder and Pupper. I sensed that Joey felt....glad to see all of us, but not “at home” here anymore. His home is not here. And he’s very happy with his new home. He stayed a respectable amount of time and then headed HOME.

I got this big deeply reverent feeling, while waiting for Joey to arrive and wondering if he’d remember to come, even.

When he first came home from the army, he was addicted, aggressive, deeply depressed, belligerent, and it was a HUGE upset in our lives having him, in that state, suddenly thrust upon us. There were people who were all too eager to tell us “what Joey’s problem was.” as if WE weren’t close enough to see it crystal clear. We were told that we were “coddling” him. We should be giving him ultimatums and laying down the law. Mind you, all these Ill-Advisors really didn’t know a damn thing about it because they’d never been in our position. (The people who HAD been in our position understood!)

I am glad we did exactly what we did. It sure wasn’t easy. If you wanna look at it in terms of sacrifice, we sacrificed, mostly our peace of mind, a great deal. But by us being....compassionate, and patient enough to just wait and let a natural cycle run its course....we gave him his life back. We harboured him until he was actually able to begin taking steps back into his life again.

It didn’t make me feel proud, thinking of this, so much as it made me feel humble. Does that even make sense?

hugs and blessings,
Nicky