Further Thoughts About Kids and Dogs

You never know what it's going to take to put things in perspective. But getting our new dog, Whisper, this weekend has given me a little food for thought.

This beautiful animal found herself lonely and in need of a new family after the boy whose dog she had been went away to college. And that's what we all want for our boys and girls, right? -- to go off to college, off to marriage, off to independence and adventure and success. We want that empty nest, even if it breaks our hearts, or the hearts of our left-behind dogs.

For parents of children with special needs, those kinds of go-away dreams may appear unattainable. And it always seems like a tragedy, doesn't it? Will he ever be able to live on his own? we wonder. Will she ever be able to marry? The break between parent and adult child so enshrined in our culture, so much a part of coming into one's own, seems in doubt, and sadly so.

But for the dog? For the dog, it's a pure joy, don't you think?

I can't predict the future, and my children have and may still surprise me. But I think I can say with some degree of confidence that Whisper is not going to lose a young person to college for a second time. If our kids go, they'll live at home. They'll probably live at home after. And though it's a possibility held dearly in my heart that they may one day find loving spouses, the chances of that happening within the lifetime of an already eight-year-old dog are slim.

I'm going to start thinking of that as a blessing. I'm going to start thinking like a dog. Fact is, I like having those kids around, too. Why does it have to be any more complicated than that?