Cassy's Corner- Learning

As many of you know, our younger dog had a little of 10 puppies nine weeks ago. We lost two who were still born, but eight beautiful babies have been thriving. Six girls and two boys.  As of today, they all have gone on to their new homes. The last girl, who heads to her new spot with a wonderful family, visited yesterday evening. The pups have been with the breeder, not at our house. Though I do confess to needing my puppy fixes and visiting as I could.

It’s hot here. My two dogs got into our lake at 7:30 in the morning.  When the breeder came by with the little girl, Delilah, everyone was still ready at nearly 7 pm to be back in the lake. Delilah had never seen a lake at 9 weeks of age. My two were chasing balls and flying off our dock like something out of Animal Planet.

Delilah quickly decided  she could play with the big girls. Remember she is only 9 weeks old and has never tried swimming before.

We threw seaweed for her as a tease. She chased the ball we had way out over the water for our two. She tried to grab it, but it took a number of tries before she could figure out how to take it. She did though.

Our big girls were kind and played right along. The mommy dog, Mina Mia, seemed totally comfortable with having her baby join the fun. I was soaked but loving it.

I began to think about it all. The baby joining the olders. Learning from watching. Doing what comes naturally but yet needing to still figure it out. That’s how we write. We read, we watch, we edit, we figure it out.

Delliah had a great hour in the water. She was exhausted. As she slept on my lap it was hard to not keep her.

I don’t mean to go on about the dogs. But as I started to say, they have reminded me about how much we learn from each other. The senior well-published writer takes on the new. So many accomplished writers are unbelievably generous with their time. The books we read teach us about pacing, about voice and about characters. These dogs do exactly the same thing. They stop and show each other. “No, don’t go there.” “Yes, it’s time to head outside”. “Here’s the ball and you can have your turn.” It’s not totally altruistic- my dog steals the ball more than she is entitled to do. But the competition continues with fun and with flair.

It’s a club. They have it figured out. And, I must say, many of us who write full-time do as well. Thank you for being part of this club--it's a great club.

PS. I have tons of pictures of the pups, but Blogger refused to accept them. But just imagine a totally gorgeous pack of Golden Retrievers, one of which is very tiny.