Bedtime was actually a half hour ago, but it seems my anxiety is up for some reason and isn't allowing me to fall asleep as easily. In that time, Peli has farted probably 20 times, reminding me why dogs eat dog food and not chicken breasts served at work picnics.
Yesterday, I went with our dog trainer, Stacie, to Salem to help her out with a pet fair. She had to set up a booth and distribute information about being a responsible pet owner, and also MC'ed several of the demonstrations. I readily agreed when she asked me to accompany her, because I think she's pretty fabulous and I love all things animal related. We were driving there in her SUV with her pit bull she's fostering in a crate in the back, and Peli was sitting in the middle. The middle seat was down to make room for things, so Peli wasn't buckled in (yes, my dog has a harness so she can be buckled in when we're in the car. I'm protective, not neurotic). Stacie asked if Peli liked the window rolled down, which is actually one of Peli's favorite things in the world. There are two things you can do to make her absolutely wiggle with joy: Go on a car ride (bonus points for a window rolled down) and taking her into the mountains for a hike. Stacie rolled down the window and asked, "She won't jump, right?" Of course not. She loves to stick out as much of her body as she can, but she never jumps. Three dog classes have ingrained some sort of common sense in her, so she would know not to jump out of a car going 40+ mph.
I was mid-sentence in telling a story when Peli was gone.
Stacie immediately pulled off to the side, and before she had even stopped I jumped out of the car and ran into the middle of a very busy street to rescue Peli. Hyperventilating, I automatically imagined finding my little girl lying in the middle of the road, either from jumping out of a car going that fast or from getting hit by a car. Instead, she was standing in the middle of the street, looking around as if to say, "Now what?" I couldn't decide whether to throw up or cry, so instead settled on informing Peli that she will have to settle with just car rides and not car rides with the window down. Ever. I'm pretty sure I lost a few years off my life.
Last night was the shop party for Bobby's work, which was pretty fantastic. It was a big campout in a beautiful part of the mountains, and it was catered by a restaurant that was much nicer than anything we ever go to (going camping with gourmet food that we don't have to pack? Talk about vacation). It was fun watching all the other people from the other shops throwing back, and then observing the Provo boys standing off to the side, sipping their sodas and then going to bed at 10:30 (everyone else was going strong till 2 a.m.). This morning, most of the crew went on a mountain bike ride, and I stayed behind to do what I do best: hang out with the dogs. There were some insanely cute dogs there, and I was in hog heaven. Peli went nuts playing with everyone. One of the guys there went on a hike with his two golden retrievers, and took a large mutt with him (a very sweet dog named Lacey). While they were out hiking, Lacey kept going off the trail (something Peli often does), and would run back, until she didn't run back. The guy taking her looked for a bit then assumed she ran back to the camp site. She didn't. A fellow dog lover and I took Peli out and we wandered around the area, looking for Lacey. It was a huge downer to what had been a really fun experience, and I could only imagine what her owner was feeling. After looking for a few hours, her owner went to the park station to tell them to look for a dog and found that someone had seen Lacey and picked her up and brought her there. Thank goodness for Peli's classes-- she doesn't need a leash when we hike because she always comes back when we call her. Maybe next class she'll learn not to jump out of a freaking window.
The party ended with the owner of the shops handing out a bunch of free stuff, and he let people pick by shop, starting with the individuals the shop managers felt deserved special recognition. After those people all went, he then let the rest of the people working at the shops go, starting with the shop that was having the best year. Bobby ended up being recognized for his hard work, so he got a new roof rack and a pretty sweet jacket. It's a good thing, too, because the Provo shop is doing the worst of all the shops, so by the time everyone else from there went, there were only t-shirts left. The owner was also handing out bib shorts ($100+ a pop) that had the store name on them. Bobby asked if there was a small I could snag, and he gave us one (a huge deal, because he can be a jerk when he's at the shop). I went up and thanked him, and explained that Peli had chewed my other shorts and that they were being held together with a pretty sketchy sewing job, so I really appreciated the new shorts. With that, he pulled out a second pair of bib shorts and handed them to me. Hot dang!
The Lord has really blessed us. We went to the temple last week and have made a goal to be more adament about that, because as Bobby put it, "we don't really deserve the blessings we get no matter what we do, but we might as well try to be a little more worthy of them." My new job is amazing. The people I work with are great, and I have a lot of freedom to make the job what I want it to be. It seems a little unstructured right now, so I want to use the time I have there to create a protocol for the individuals that are in the transitional housing that instills more accountability. Last week, I was in Salt Lake City for a conference and learned a ton about domestic violence. I felt like I knew a lot before, but man, there is always so much more out there. I know I've been blessed with a drive to help people, and I'm working hard to figure out what exactly I'm supposed to do with it. Being in social work isn't enough. I learn more things, and I get frustrated because there aren't enough hours in the day, days in the week, and I'm only one person, so where do I focus my time and energy? I found out there is a huge correlation between domestic violence and animal abuse, and I adore animals-- what can I do to help create more opportunities for survivors to place their animals in a safe haven while they seek safety? Then I learned that the Native American population is seriously lacking in allies (70% of violent crimes against women in the Native American population are commited by non-Native Americans) and that until 1982 (only 26 years ago!) 47% of Native American women of child bearing age were sterilized as mandated by the federal government and the women weren't even told! So many crazy things are happening that need attention, so figuring out where to focus is going to be interesting.
Well, Chuck just snuggled up to me, so perhaps I can attempt sleep again. Tomorrow could be a very long day if I don't conk out soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment