This past June, I began an experiment called the Friday Salon. The idea was to gather people in person with a topic. My vague set of prompts and questions centered on what makes us human. We met for four weeks and discussed everything from travel to movies. Because we had so much fun, we gathered for a party on the fifth week. This time around I selected the theme of Harvest. It is a nice nod to the season and a concept from which there is much to consider. I invite you all to do the prompt for yourselves.
Week One Writing Prompt: Consider a time when a project, a pastime, and/or a relationship required a significant investment of time and what was the outcome. What were lessons learned and would you do it again?
When I wrote this prompt, I really liked it. I imagined having a flood of ideas. The challenge would not be what to write, the challenge would be which past experience to share. The floodgates did not open. Instead I found myself chewing on the prompt all week long. I would remember a time in my life, only to talk myself out of sharing it. Discarding parts of me for being too banal, too trivial, or just plain silly.
Committed to writing this morning, Penny came to mind. Penny passed away three years ago. We were together for 12 years. I remember the first day I saw her outside the Malibu Farmer’s Market. She was in a wire enclosure quietly seated while the enclosure next to her was a chorus of yips and barks from a band of chihuahuas. I fell for her in that moment, a large, brown dog with kind eyes. Several months later after multiple home visits, building a new fence, signing pages of contracts (essentially promising my first born child if anything happened to her), and paying a few hundred dollars, Penny became a part of the family.
During the adoption process her separation anxiety was mentioned as was her ‘strong prey drive’. I figured the separation anxiety was something we would overcome and I wasn’t really sure what a ‘strong prey drive’ meant. The decade plus we were together, I learned that she would spontaneously lunge at, if she was on leash, or chase, if she was off leash, every lizard, squirrel, cat, and bunny she saw.
Her separation anxiety meant that she could never be without a human, never. As much as she got along with other dogs, she needed a human to feel safe. I quickly figured out how to adjust for life with Penny. You could say that I was the one who ended up being trained. We have started to consider getting a dog. While I am not ready to knowingly take on a similar situation with the next dog, Penny gave me her trust and love at a period in my life when I needed it.