week 6-travels with charley

I emerged from a gas station, clutching an energy drink to power me through the next leg of my journey.  As I wearily returned to my parked car, I saw a standard poodle out of the corner of my eye.  Fond childhood memories flooded back into my mind, and I felt overwhelmed with emotion.  Images of my sister, parents and I laughing at the dining room table as our large black poodle, Comet, frantically searched the ground for scraps that we dropped.  It was odd how his death coincided with my father’s decline in health.  It was as if my childhood innocence was lost with not one, but two blows. 

I remembered how much of my childhood had been spent with Comet, and how much my life, and everyone’s life, changes from childhood through adolescence.  It is obviously the natural progression of life, and I reflected on how much more time I had spent with my family, and how the circumstances had changed within our family.    When I made the unconventional decision to attend college as a woman, my family had been supportive but not entirely thrilled. Now that I was the only college-educated member of my family, I was expected to make important decisions that I was not entirely sure that I had the capacity to make.  I felt that this newfound allocation of responsibility was unwarranted.  I definitely felt like I was just faking it all. 

This reflection made me wonder if anyone really felt like they were warranted the responsibility they were given.  Maybe everyone felt this way.  Maybe even the people in the highest positions of power felt like they were faking it.  I could hope that at least. 

“Are you all right?” The poodle’s owner questioned.  I realized that I had froze right in front of his dog.  “Yes, I’m just fine,” I replied.  “Your dog just reminds me a lot of one I had when I was a kid.”