The View From My Front Porch: There Ain’t No Fleas On Me

5:30 am
There are four dogs in my bed as I write this, well, actually one has temporarily fled for safety under the bed at the moment but you get my point. Three of these dogs live at my house and one is a visitor. Way too early this morning, Drake (my niece’s dog – they are on vacation so he is with us) sat on Mocha (Ali’s 2 lb. Chihuahua) and no one in the room was happy about this. Did I mention that this was at 5:00 am? The fight was on. Drake lives with a very large American Bulldog and it is told that Drake “rules the roost” but this little Chihuahua just put him in his place. Needless to say, I am wide awake now so here goes the latest blog.

We love our house dogs very much and they pretty well do whatever they want when they want – to a limit. And, yes, we usually have one or two, sometimes three dogs in the bed with us at night. Ricky jokingly accuses them of being the cause of any bug bite he receives. Because there is no way he could have gotten bit while traipsing around in the National Forest doing his summer job or while working outside.

We recently visited with an older gentleman who used the phrase “you lay with dogs and you’re gonna get fleas.” He was referring to how we need to be careful who we associate with. His step-son was recently killed by someone he barely knew in what was apparently an argument that quickly got out of hand. From what I’ve heard, it probably stemmed from a misunderstanding but J. is still dead and there is no way to undo any of their actions.

My girls think I am “old school” and over reacting when I constantly tell them to be careful about who they are with and where they go. Hopping in the car with someone else’s friend that you don't know could lead you into a situation where you have no control over the outcome. Just looking “nice” or thinking they are safe because they hang out with someone you know is not a good enough reason to put your life in their hands. Even allowing someone else to drive your car makes you responsible for their actions almost as much as if you were the one driving.

Which leads me to my next thought – how well do we really know those we call our friends. Most of us have at least one Facebook friend that we only know through someone else yet we call them our friend. I agree that Facebook is a safe place to get to know that person, much better than getting in a car with them, but this seems to water down the true meaning of the word friend. Webster defines a friend as “one attached to another by affection or esteem.” I like that! It should be an honor to be called someone’s friend. It is a title that I do not take lightly.

I guess I just want my girls to understand that I gave birth to them and, for some strange reason, I feel responsible for them. I want them to realize that while we cannot control the actions of someone else, we can control our own actions. They probably get tired of hearing me say “be careful” or “make me proud” every time they walk out the door but it’s my way of reminding them of this.

Back to the flea thought. We put drops and dips and collars on our dogs to protect them from fleas. Wouldn’t it be great if we could put something on our children to protect them from whatever life throws at them? Oh … but we can ... it’s called ... PRAYER!!

To those of you who are my friends, my true friends, I thank God for you. To those of you who are becoming my friends, maybe a new Facebook friend, thanks for sharing the moments of your life with me through comments about your day or pictures of your happenings. I look forward to getting to know you better!

Have you met these members of our family? They drive me crazy but I love them all.