Think Quiet

Sometimes all we need is to learn is to think quiet.


I walk into the house after work and am greeted with a symphony of sound that makes me yearn for a spa day.The cats twine around my ankles, anxiously meowing all in different keys and the dogs - the black one howls like a banshee, the small brown one beats on her kennel door and cries, and the little daschund sounds as if he's being beaten senseless.  For a half second, I consider pretending that I've entered the wrong house and making a hasty exit.  The noise is deafening and discordant and oh, so welcome.


After everybody's fed and watered and let outside, peace descends - the cats groom themselves then find places for their after dinner naps while the dogs all gravitate to wherever I am and curl up as close as they can get.  In minutes, the whole circus is content and fast asleep.  And so the days and evenings go, chaos and quiet taking turns.  The next morning there is a fierce thunderstorm raging overhead and knowing the dogs will never venture out, I reset the alarm and go back to bed.  But an hour later when it still hasn't passed, I throw on some clothes and make a run to the car for the umbrella - then drag three protesting little bodies into the back yard for as long as I can stand.  They're miserable and wet and anxious about the thunder but they try their best and once back inside, after I towel them off and give them a biscuit, they burrow in the bedclothes and go to sleep again.  Not ten minutes later the storm is over but too late to do me much good.  I take a quick shower, dry my hair, and hop back into bed for a nap while the curlers heat up.


Here's a trick I learned from living with my animals - learn to think quiet in the midst of chaos. Sanity and reason can prevail if you don't join in.