pet connection

Tonight we were having our annual Christmas party and several of us were standing in front of the microwave watching one person heat up a cup of coffee. For one minute. Eldon hit high power, then the timer for one minute, and we all watched the seconds ticking down. 60, 59, 58. … We all couldn’t believe that it was only taking a minute. What were we all going to do for the one minute it took to heat up his coffee?

There were several remarks about how things had changed from the days we grew up. A time when people chit-chatted, lingered, mosied, just looked out the window and thought. Today, like they said in the movie, Postcards From the Edge, “even instant gratification takes too long.” Do you ever pine for the old days? Ever want to do a barrel roll off of the hamster wheel, albeit momentarily, to catch your breath? To break free from the electronic tethers (cell phone, PDA, IM, email) and be unreachable?

It’s a great thing to be a dog or cat. No wristwatches, meetings, taxes or traffic. But they do have messages. Have you ever watched your dog go out the door on a walk, log onto the nearest tree trunk or sign post and check his pee-mail? Sometimes our little 13-pound Quixote starts sniffing and looks exasperated, like we do when we come back off vacation to find our mailboxes full. I can almost see a thought bubble above his head that says, “My God, how many messages do I have to read and respond to!”