Where am I in my own way?

The prompt for this piece was a line from Rosemerrry Wahtola Trommer’s poem, “Questions for the New Year.”

Today, this morning, while lying on my back, breathing deep into my lower belly in an attempt to inflate and stabilize that sleepy part of my body while I did my recommended core exercises, Gertie began going berserk.

This was a different berserk than her usual berserk.

There was urgency in her bark, a pleading in the scratching at the door.

It wasn’t the “how dare you” howl she gives to our mail carrier as she ascends our porch to deliver our mail;

Nor was it the “and stay out!” yelp she snarls at other hairy beasts that dare to walk by Gertie’s house.

No, this was the “can’t you see I must go outside now!” chirp of someone who has seen a friend.

I rolled off the floor and crawled to the door to see what she saw and indeed, there was her fluffy friend Teddy, complete in his prance and a proudly protruding stick in his mouth.

And so I scrambled to get G’s leash and my shoes.

Coat be damned! Gertie needed to get outside now!

We sprinted down the street to catch up to Teddy and Susan and the reunion was ecstatic.

A few cold minutes later, we scampered back inside.

G, flooded with happy and content hormones.

Me, eyeing the floor that was beckoning my core once again.