Is It Just Me?
— Susan Rigby, Guest Columnist
Join Wimberley humorist Susan Rigby as she attempts to navigate “the small stuff.”
I should have expected it. It’s like when my kids started kindergarten - something changed. Prior to that, they thought I knew everything, and pretty much worshiped me. Then came the big change. They walked in the Kindergarten door an innocent child and came out a know-it-all, mom knows nothing, punk kid. I was in shock the first time that happened but by the time my second child started school, I was dreading but expecting the change. Now I understand why parents want to home school.
The same thing happened with my sweet little quiet, innocent dog/human, Seymour. It just took him a few extra days to make the change. He went into doggie daycare as a naive little dog and came out like an - animal! First, I noticed that his loyalty to me was waning. He looked forward to leaving me in the morning to be held in the arms of another woman. Then he went from a dog that wouldn’t bark if someone knocked on the door to an animal who barked at tree stumps. But the worst thing is that he started to smell like a wet dog - all the time. He goes into daycare smelling of lavender and comes out smelling of doggie poo and doggie breath, but with a smile plastered on his face.
He no longer wanted to sleep with me so I had to bribe him by lifting him into bed and massaging him until his knees and eyelids both dropped. He was not happy to lose his bedtime “attitude”, but his need for a massage won out. This gives me a flicker of hope that I can slowly get some of that loving, innocence back and eventually make him forget that he is an animal. I couldn’t save my kids from growing up and learning that I wasn’t as smart as they are, but I think I have a chance with Seymour, thanks to the fact that he’ll never learn to drive, text or read selfhelp books. I just might get my boy back.
