Stories, Part One

     This is a post about a story.  The story is about dogs...kind of.  Sometimes, I like to start out my posts by saying, "This is a post about..."  so that way, you know exactly what you are getting yourselves into.


Still reading?


Thank you.


     One of my favorite authors wrote a book about The Story he wants to write with his life.  His name is Donald Miller and the book is called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.   He is an excellent author.  The book is good.  The book is very good.  I would tell you all about it, but that is another post entirely in itself.  It is THAT good.  You should read it.  Seriously, take a sick day and read it, I won't tell.


     This is a post I have been sitting on for a long time, but now that it is time to start writing, I don't quite know where to start.


((sigh))


     Shortly after Tim and I started dating, I moved into a cozy, ivy-covered town house with one of my best pals.  It was within walking distance of Starbucks.  We had a Graeter's (best ice cream this side of the Mississippi).   There were black eyed susans in the backyard.  We were on the outskirts of a hussling, bussling city, and we liked it.  Life was good.
    
     When Tim and I started talking, I mean, Really Talking, he informed me that his family owned some land a lot of land in the teeniest tiniest town (where I grew up).  He informed me that (someday) he wanted to build a house.  I thought to myself,
           "There is no way I am moving back to the country and building a house in the woods." 
     Instead, I nodded sweetly and added something generic like,
          "That's cool."
    
     Cause that's what we do in the beginning of relationships, right?  We nod sweetly and agree to  ridiculous things like building new/old farmhouses in towns with more chickens than people and no Starbucks.
     Then we bought a house in the suburbs.  We bought a house in the suburbs where the neighbors are rude and there is lots of traffic and the coffee is overpriced.  Then I fell in love with Dogs and read Don Miller's book and started thinking about farmhouses and animals in need and writing good stories with my life.


And then I went to Petsmart.  I went to Petsmart on Adopt-a-dog-day.


Still with me?  Good.


     The last time we were at Petsmart on Adopt-a-dog-day, we had to leave because I cried.  I had never seen so many caged-in dogs...so many caged-in ADULT dogs.  Usually, you see lots of puppies.  The puppies are not sad because they lick you and they are adorable and they get homes easily.


Everyone wants a puppy.


     You will be hard-pressed to find someone who wants a wild, full-grown, smelly, adult dog.  That is like going to an orphanage and asking to adopt a Frat Boy.  What's worse, is that all the dogs were barking.  They were barking because they have known freedom.  They have known freedom and they are smart enough to know that this is not it.  Caged-in puppies aren't sad because they have never known freedom.  A cage is a cage is a field is a park is a cage to them.  They can't tell the difference.


     So then I started thinking about how this is NOT what God intended when he created the world.  I started thinking about how sometimes, it is the little things in the world that signify that something BIG and Important is amiss (like shoplifting and animal neglect and The Jersey Shore).


     I started thinking about all those unwanted, neglected, adult dogs and how wrong that seemed.


And then I cried. so we left.  The end.


     Actually, that is not the end.  That is not even really the beginning.  Maybe it is the beginning of the beginning, but truth be told, I haven't had breakfast yet and I'm hungry and there is laundry just hanging out in the washing machine and I hate it when the laundry spoils (such a waste), so I must go for now.


     There is more to The Story.  If you are good and honest and kind to each other and you finish all your broccoli (try adding cheese, it helps), then I will tell you THE REST of The Story very soon.  And give you extra recess.


So far, you know:
1.) Tim and I are tossing around the idea of building a house on his family's farmland
2.) I read a book about making your life full of Great Stories that sort of changed my life
3.)  I came to believe that neglected dogs are a microcosm that represents everything that is wrong and evil in the world.


Love and S.A.T. words (microcosm?),
H.