DEAR PARENTS:

How do you do it? Due to a number of circumstances I have no children. I never thought of myself having the Parenting Gene, the one that makes women sigh at the sight of babies and grown men wax nostalgic over the thought of passing their invaluable DNA along to the world. The BigYou Were Here.

I praise you because while I have managed to avoid the whole “child” thing, I have a dog named Polly. Somehow, from the depths of my diseased blood and scarred heart she has managed to uncover my one small Parenting Gene. This big (.).

Man, this shit can be scary. You’re everything. You’re Alpha, Omega, Earth Goddess, Sittin’ On The Throne. You’re the source of the Nile and from you all things flow.

Kids don’t tend to dwell on all that because that’s not their job, it’s Yours. I was a precocious, smart, over imaginative young boy - in short, every parent’s nightmare. That my single mother, in her twenties during the sixties, could deal with me at all is nothing short of a miracle. I would have , oh what’s the word? Oh yeah... freaked.

How do I know? Because I freak now about my beagle. If she seems “upset”, I want her to be happy. If she’s hungry, I want to feed her. I worry about her around strangers. She, in return, licks my face and wags her tail when I move or look at her and call her name.

What is that? Is it just love? When we are adults, we meet other people who are independent, even at first, even if we find out later exactly how dependent adults can be. With children, it’s a pact you’ve made between You and the Universe. Here’s the deal : you give me life and I’ll manage it’s career until it goes single. All of it, the food, the roof, knowledge, time. Eventually my efforts will emanate and keep the Universe around. Win, win. Right?

Polly doesn’t have that option. The Universe has given life and I decided to be a priest in the temple until one of us die - to nurture and love another creature who can not do it alone. I bring fruit and gifts to the feet of God and in return, I receive waves of unrelenting love. Are my offerings enough? How, exactly, can you pay God back?

Kudos to you Parents. Feel free to remove your shoes and sit next to me on the stone floor of this sacred place. We can dangle our feet in the cool water. We are together and yet our ears always listen for sounds that we are needed.

10:01:16 PM    sro home /