Tonight begins the 48th Day of the Omer (May 30-31, 2006), which is six weeks and six days of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Yesod in Malkhut be healed on this day.
Speaking Sweet Nothings to Boaz, May, 2006
I Love Boaz, May, 2006
Our family of four humans has had Boaz the cute cocker among us since Passover '05. He was three when we got him.
Our daughter had been pitching for a dog for years. She's incredibly responsible. She proved her reliability with pets having taken meticulous care of two different rats, including the administration of antibiotics twice a day for the last three months of the life of Motty, her second rat.
A year after Motty's death, we couldn't put it off any longer. Both kids were committed to walking and feeding duty.
During the first two months of our life with Boaz my wife and I had more doggy parenting-strategy fights than all the kid parenting fights we had had in eleven years of raising two children. The details are not relevant here. In short, we solved the problems.
We are four complicated, ambitious, smart as well as playful, fun, loving, etc. people. Boaz' presence, however, precipitates the pure love in all of us. He's not complicated. He loves (expressed in oh so many ways), he walks, he plays, he smells, he eats, he takes care of his business. Uncomplicated does not mean, "without quirks." But in seeing his quirks we think of our own and even more love flows.
This uncomplicated love helps all of us to keep things in perspective. It helps us breathe deeper. In a house with kids moving towards their pre-teens, it can be a safer form of love for us to share our common adoration of Boaz than for us to express love directly to one another.
It's so easy to get overwhelmed. There is so much to do and the day is short. The care and love of this dog has helped us all to be more resilient and love each other more deeply.