At first I thought....

Hi everyone, this is Liza and I will be doing today's post. Life with Dory is never dull and the other night was a perfect example of that.

Since the holidays are pretty much officially over, the tree ornaments all packed away and the poor tree itself resting unceremoniously at the curb; life has gotten somewhat back to normal. Of course normal means my job gets busy too and on Thursday night I had to go out an do a presentation to a group of parents and school committee members. I don't have to often work at night, but when I do I always feel bad for Dory.

So I came home, spent a couple hours with her, gave her a nice dinner and told her I'd be back as soon as I could. She knew something was up because I rarely stay in my work clothes once I'm home. Anyhow I went and what was supposed to be about a two hour thing, turned into a 3+ hour thing and I got home late. So I took Dor out for a brief potty break and went to bed falling into a deep sleep.

At first I thought I must be dreaming, because I felt like someone was staring at me. The I realized there was Dory sitting up on the bed next to my shoulder looking down at me. I turned on my back and then Dory with a huge sigh put her head down on my shoulder. From my perspective it was so strange - like being smothered by a big black fur coat.

Now normally Dory sleeps in/on her own arm chair in my bedroom. She can come on the bed, and has every so often, but with my artificial knee and my typical tossing and turning as a result of knee pain, Dory is usually more happy on her chair.

I'm no dog whisperer, but I guess she was trying to tell me in her own furry way she missed me and doesn't like it when I go out at night and break our routine. Dory stayed there on my bed, with her head on my shoulder, at least until I was back to sleep, in the morning she was back in her own chair.

I have friends who every so often will end a story with, "oh you'll understand about guilt when you have a child" - I may not have a human child, but my partner in crime Dory can certainly make me feel guilty when I can't always be there. That and scare the heck out of me in the middle of the night.