I’ve decided to become a Love Bug!!  Perhaps not a radical shift in my thinking or approach to life, but as a visual image for simple goal setting the Love Bug idea has kept me smiling since yesterday morning.  After all New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday this year so my focus for forming a 2012 format had to be postponed until Monday.

Then I “walked around” with the idea all day, letting it sink in and fill me with a joyful perspective for the New Year.  So before Dusty and I head out for today’s walk I wanted to share my Love Bug thoughts with you:

Yesterday morning dawned as usual with a morning pause or “paws alarm” to be exact as Dusty patted his front paws on my cheeks.  As he spends the night snuggled next to me on my right side, his mornings begin with a slow stretch, followed by a purposeful crawl toward my face.  Then he gently places one of his paws on my cheeks and waits for me to acknowledge him.  Apparently sometimes I do not respond appropriately or within a reasonable timeframe, because some mornings my drowsy dreamlike state unravels into a scary scene where I am being tossed back and forth in a lifeboat while wearing a lifejacket that has a loose strap jingling and jangling against a belt buckle.  Some days I wake up wondering which ocean I’ve been swaying about in, thinking I’m going to tear off that inflatable noisemaker only to recognize the jarring sounds as the familiar “shaking for attention” dance that Dusty performs to declare his desires. He simply tosses his whole body back and forth and lets his collar and nametag serve as a loud percussion section.  In this case it means, “don’t we need to wake up now?”

Fortunately Dusty enjoys performing the “paws alarm” and generally waits patiently for me to respond to him.  Yesterday with my eyes still stuck shut, I stroked his little back and promised that I was trying to wake up.  After a few more pointed paw pats, I surprised him by trying to scoop him up as I hopped out of bed.  Of course he avoided the intended capture by leaping onto the floor and promptly signaling his delight with more vibrating moves.  That’s when the motion clicked my memory into fast rewind to the summer before I entered sixth grade.  I had a small lump removed from my upper left arm and found myself spending several days in the local hospital’s children ward.  As a consolation present my mother brought me a peculiar looking stuffed toy, called a Love Bug.  It was covered with soft, pink, fluffy hair that could be brushed into a sleek, smooth texture.  It came with specific instructions to give it loving back rubs and to groom it into an adorable stuffed pet.

To have a chance to give it a “remake” or a “new do” I could quickly turn it over, give it a good shake, flip it again and fluff it up into new furriness! The Love Bug had another chance to become a new, crazy, comforting, creation.

As always, Dusty has given a gift to me merely by seeking to communicate his own distinct desires.   His awkward way of shaking me into action has reminded me to make a different visual resolution this year.  I have determined that I may need to make a few flip-overs, to experience a bit of firm flinging back and forth, and to certainly discipline myself to do a fair amount of some detailed “fussing over” as my Southern friends would say, to become all that I hope for in 2012.  I need and want to become my vision of a Love Bug!! Whenever the mistakes occur, I will toss them into oblivion, face the future, fluffed up and ready to share in loving and meaningful ways.

Happy New Year everyone!

Love, Dusty and Dee