I once saw a profile piece on TV about Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed – which I HIGHLY recommend reading if you are married or ever considered getting married). She said one of her many ephiphanies about her life is that what she really wanted was “a big, small life.” Kinda profound, really. Some people may crave the life of a Kardashian or a Clooney. But, I believe most of us want what Gilbert so simply put: a significant feeling life arising from little things. When you think about it, life is made up of so many small things. You wouldn’t need to be rich or famous or live in an Italian villa to find comfort and meaning if you could find joy and satisfaction in something as mundane as finding that perfect avocado at the grocery store or an unexpectedly warm day in the middle of January.
Am I losing you with my philosophical rambling and ruminations? Well, let me get back to something more tangible, then. Puppy poop. No, I did not have an ephiphany around how dog doo-doo can be joyful. But….
The other night, Puppy Callum had an unusual 1 a.m. request. Normally he sleeps through the night. (I shall now take a moment to thank God for sending me a dog who sleeps. Amen.) But, not this night. He started rattling his cage and shaking his head in his cage. This is his signal for I’m awake, so you should be, too, and let me out cause I gotta go.
So, I hauled myself from the toasty bed to take him outside in 28 degrees so he could pee and poop. But, rather than just doing his business, he was distracted by the animal sounds all around us and ended up sniffing and jumping around. You see, at night, we have deer who stomp around just out of the porch light’s reach, snorting and cavorting as if to say, who the hell are you and what are you doing on our land and what is that little creepy furry white thing? I keep a rather large flashlight in hand during these rare late night poop parties just in case one of them decides to charge us. I figure I can bonk a deer in the head if it comes down to having to save the puppy. But, so far, there haven’t been any human-puppy-deer attacks yet. (My friend, Ed, of the Wildlife Center of Virginia is probably secretly laughing at me about this. But, I figure a girl can’t be too careful. Anyway…)
Since Callum was taking so long to decide whether or not to bare his butt in such frigid air, I had a moment to reflect. I looked up. And, I saw something that I swear I cannot recall seeing since the 90s.
This is not my picture. But, it is indicative of what I saw. And, I realized that I can’t recall the last time I looked up at a night sky. I mean really looked up. Noticing the stars. And, I thought about what Elizabeth Gilbert said. I had one of those brief little girl gleeful moments of being awed.
But, then I heard Callum’s munching something and looked down. He was eating his poop. Oh, well. At least he went. It’s the little things…
I see the stars in Colorado at least once a week, as my FOUR year old dog still wakes me up in the middle of the night to go out and eat his poop. By my estimation, he’s saved me from picking up at least 100 poops.
You definitely saw the good in that situation! P.S. Dogs LOVE to chase deer; mine went on a 15 minute romp after some and came back covered in mud. No more off leash near those woods anymore
Oh, great. We must have 100 deer living here! He likes their poop, too.
Love it, love it, love it! Poop-breath and all. What a profound moment. I too am astounded on those rare starry-eyed moments. It is the little things that are so huge. Thanks for this!