pups
Fast asleep and seemingly exhausted, Gracie the Golden lies beside my chair peacefully as a reprieve from the voracious appetite of her growing brood of infant canines. The adorable pups, satiated and possessing bulging bellies sleep and dream peaceably in their designated space. A voracious first week’s appetite by the pups inspired their mom to consume at least a third more food than normal. They all rest now, mom regaining her strength and puppies metabolizing and growing to become healthy and heartwarming members of someone’s family in the next few weeks. Just two years ago on the summer’s dawn, Gracie was a bouncing and cuddly fur-ball of a pup who had totally won our hearts from the first day of her arrival. She has become a dear and loving companion who has demonstrated her loyalty and attachment on so many levels. As I watch her sleep and dream I give thanks for the opportunity of sharing the time we’ve had together as companions on this daily journey navigating the path with Parkinson’s. Gratitude is one of the gifts she has inspired and her presence multiplies that gift each day. May you uncover the gift of gratitude today!
In that peaceful place of twilight sleep I heard the panting. Gracie (our Golden Retriever) was sitting next to me beside the bed as though looking to me for help. As I arose, I reached forward to cuddle her head in my hands and to rub her chin gently and lovingly. We made our way to the back door and she was off to do her thing. Her return was swift and her prancing and panting was intense. We had prepared a place near the back entrance that was cardboard and paper lined and covered by an old quilt. As Gracie so obediently laid there I could see the contractions starting. Instinctively, she began to lick at the fluid emerging from within and soon the first born male pup arrived on the scene. The sturdy pup quickly became vocal as he whined to instinctively find the source of his sustenance. By Noon, eight pups had been born. Number seven was dead on arrival. She was beautiful bundle, emerging rear first and seemingly frozen in her fetal position. I picked her up and pressed rhythmically on her chest. There was no response and she was “frozen” in her fetal pose. I laid her gently on a towel on the counter and watched to see if any movement would follow. None did. Soon, pup number eight arrived on the scene as a beautiful little female squealing to find her mother’s teat. A healthy litter of five males and two females now were engulfed around the belly of the beautiful and precious Mother Gracie. Filled with gratitude we offered prayers of thankfulness for the healthy seven and their exhausted mother. Holding either one of the precious brood ignites a spark of joy for the gift of new life.
Just days away from the arrival of her first litter, Miss Gracie, the Golden Retriever, is doing far more snoring than retrieving. Burdened with a load of pups soon to worm their way to the daylight she is almost mournfully lethargic. The once ambitious discoverer of all things interesting in the yard and fields is now quite satisfied to find a place suitable for depositing her business so she can return to her place of repine in the cool air conditioned space of the old farm house. Her desire to be close seems to have intensified, but our times of “lap petting” have diminished because of her discomfort and weight. We now spend time massaging her ever widening belly and rubbing her head and neck. Nature will soon take its course and the pups will begin their descent through the birth canal to be welcomed by jubilant hosts and a somewhat relieved mother. We will give thanks one by one and encourage Gracie as she engages her motherly instincts at whelping. Although our knowledge of science has increased with greater understanding of the union of gametes to begin the process that leads to gestation we are still in awe of the way in which each of us are uniquely (and even Divinely) designed. Today we linger a little longer at the place of thanks as we lift our minds in gratitude to the place of our beginnings.