playwithmePlayWithMePLEASEPLAYWITHME!

Any good Saturday warrants a glorious nap time, and this Saturday was no exception. I curled up with my dog Hobbes and quickly fell into a much needed snooze. Now apparently Hobbes wasn't nearly as sleep deprived as I was, so it wasn't too long before he was again up and at 'em. He left me alone for a little while...that was nice. But as any of you who have ever met Hobbes know, though he couldn't get much cuter he sure does like attention and he LOVES to play! It wasn't too long until he started to visit--just an occasional nudge here, and poke of the nose there. Then he progressed to phase 2 where his paw would gently pat my hand as if to say, "Here I am, would you like to play?" As he advanced to the more direct stage 3 and the pile of collected toys started growing on my chest, my mind drifted back to my childhood...

I was the youngest of 2 girls in my family and much like Hobbes I LOVED to play! I remember when my sister Sharon had friends over I would serve them food, tell them jokes, and basically do anything I could to be a part of the fun (and I mean anything....ya, sorry about that Sis). Another time Sharon was trying to beat her own record for hula hooping. She was well over 1000 with mom and dad excitedly counting each rotation of the hoop. Ya, did you catch the dynamics there--that no one was paying attention to me? Just keep that in mind. Well, I quickly figured out a brilliant scheme that would put an end to this monotonous routine. I filled up a bucket of water, snuck up on Sharon, and as you can guess the hoola hooping soon came to a screeching halt. Now in my mind, the event was over, the hula hooping had ceased--problem solved and let the playing begin! Ya, I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed back then, and I hadn't taken the time to consider her emotional willingness to play after the aforementioned attack. Hey, I just wanted someone to play with me...

...with that thought my mind snapped back to the present. And as Hobbes gentle whines started getting slightly more desperate, I did what any decent dog owner would do--stretched, pried my eyelids open, smiled, and got up and played with my pup.