Over the years, and because of our love of dogs, Jennifer and I have learned that a King Size bed works the best for us. It provides us plenty of room to sleep and plenty of room for the occasionally 'fur baby' to come visit. However, over the years the visits have stopped. Now the 'fur baby' takes up residence at (or near) our feet. So we need the extra room.
Flynn is especially good at this. Each night he assumes one of two places: between my feet OR against Jennifer's legs.
Now one would think that a 20-pound mini springer doodle with all the space of a King Size bed would have plenty of room to wander around. But this is not the case. Nearly every night he is either against Jennifer's leg or between my feet.
So last night I tired something to see if it would help and as I watched, I wondered....
I grabbed a throw blanket that Autumn gave us for Christmas a couple years ago. It is red and white with ribbing on it that makes it look like my grandmother hand knit it. If I did not cut the tag off the blanket on Christmas morning, I would think Autumn made it herself.
I gently folded the blanket into a square and placed it in the middle of the bed and waited. Calling Flynn I smiled as I heard the jingle of his collar down the hall. He trotted down into our room holding his favorite plush toy "Harry" in his mouth (if you were a 1-year-old I bet you would want your favorite toy to take to bed as well).
Jumping onto our bed, he did not even circle around as dogs often do, but he plopped right down with Harry in his mouth. He then slumped over onto his side and allowed Harry to rest next to him. At 5:30am I found them both in that general spot. Right where I left them. There was something soothing about the blanket for him.
It was a very small modification that asked little of me. But he seemed to appreciate it and I wondered is there a small step, a small choice, that you can make today that will help something find peace in their day?
Our days are filled with so much stress and so much anxiety that a small gesture might just make the difference for them. Perhaps you can be on the lookout for a chance to care for someone today?