Mom's Crocs and Other Family Secrets

Gosh, I wish I could still 'talk' to mom the way I used to do when I was on earth. I'd tell her: "Chill, Mom, chill. Levi will get it eventually." She's been struggling this week with the homework from puppy obedience class number four. Specifically, trying to teach the 'stand' and 'stay' commands. The technique of teaching the stand command starts with Levi being in a 'sit' position and then drawing him forward with a treat until he's standing. That part is working well but he's not connecting the word with the action. It's all about the treat for him and he would follow her to Alaska to get it.

One thing I'm learning up here in angel training is that yesterday's successes (or failures) don't matter, only the present counts. I wish I could tell Mom it doesn't matter that Levi was a shining success in past classes and that people there might have great expectations for his performance at the next class. (She can be a little competitive, you know.) It only matters that they are spending quality training time together, building a strong bond in the process.

That growing bond and the love that goes with it are good things for Levi because for the first time he ruined a material object---one of Mom's beloved Crocs shoes. She can still wear it but it's full of teeth marks. She didn't notice how badly he'd 'puppy stamped' it until yesterday when she was sitting along side of a nature trail that overlooks the backwaters of a river. She and dad were having a rare day with her brother, niece and her niece's husband when her niece wanted to try on her Crocs. As she handed them over and noticed the wide-spread damage Mom thought about how much of a puppy Levi still is. That some how made her feel less guilty that she didn't bring him along on their outing. He can still be unpredictable. (Important lesson to be learned here, Mom. Don't take off your Crocs. Wear them to bed, sleep and shower in them because they chew just like Kong rubber toys. Yummm good.)

On the nature trail Dad and Mom saw three families of tundra swans, several great blue heron, green heron, mallard ducks, two varieties of turtles sunning themselves, and a dozen other birds not normally seen by city dwellers. Levi would have wanted to chase them all, his puppy bark breaking the peacefulness of nature's masterpiece. Yup, as much as Mom suffers separation anxiety when she leaves Levi home it was a good thing common sense won out and she left him home on that hot summer day. With three other people along to push Dad's wheelchair, and no puppy to keep out of trouble, Mom got a much deserved day of bliss, void of worrying about the comforts of another being.

When they got back home, it was apparent that Levi faired just fine being left to his own devices for six hours, the longest he'd ever been left alone. The woodwork was tooth mark free, the table cloth was still in place, the decorative towels still hung on the oven door. The only things that Levi touched were the toys in his box. He'd obviously beat the crap out of them because they laid around the floor like dead soldiers on a battlefield.

When the forces of heaven matched Levi up to my family they did good. Happy six months birthday baby brother! ©



Painting by Robert Bateman
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