There is a dog that lives near me. I have not, to my knowledge seen it, only heard it. The dog whines a lot. In the way of writers I have imagined many possible back stories for this. I do want to be clear, I have no reason to suspect the dog is being mistreated, I simply suspect something about the going outside multiple times a day ritual makes the dog unhappy. It could be dislike of weather, outside, strangers, seeing cars, being leashed, being unable to hunt down that squirrel, or any number of things.
Because dogs need to do their thing regularly, I hear the dog a few times a day.
And honestly, dog, I feel you.
The world right now hardly seems interacting with some days. There are many things I can't do, or can't do the way that I want to or used to, and yet, it turns out I still have to do them. And so I do. But I am not happy about it. And even if I personally am not making noises that carry around the side of buildings, it's not because I haven't thought about it.
There are still good things, and things that work okay, or not badly. And I still have the privilege of avoiding many things right now. But still need food, and to do laundry, and really, laundry in this economy and in a pandemic seems incredibly unfair.
So, dog, I feel you. You're expressing yourself, but you're still showing up.
