You know how dogs can tell when you're sick, and they empathize, giving extra attention, affection and love?
Lainey is suffocating me with love and affection to the point she may kill me.
For the last few weeks, she incessantly follows me everywhere.
When I stop, she stops, and stares at me, until my next move.
When I sit, she lays her head in my lap, and proceeds to slowly crawl up until I relent and give her a full-on hug and belly rub.
If I lay down, she lays down, beside me, even down to sleep and the way she snores, it could be prayers to the Lord for my soul to keep.
I don't know.
I've fleetingly considered taking out a restraining order on her so I can get some rest.
Sarah and Che see Lainey's obsessiveness and try to redirect her, which is easy, because she follows their every command lovingly.
Colt, the foster puppy, treats me like he always has, gleefully playing around my feet, or happily kissing my chin.
But Lainey remains obsessively, compulsively, zoned in on how I'm doing, and killing me with affection.
"Dogs know when people are dying or grieving, through body language cues, smells only they can detect and other ways not yet known, experts say (Sue Manning).
Honestly, I don't mind Lainey's constant obsessions, because I know she's just giving me extra love to keep me going.
She's constantly letting me know that she's here with me, and isn't going anywhere.
It's the same with Sarah and Che.
I don't know how they mobilize all of the extra tangible expressions of love during difficult times, but they do.
It's family love, which is an incredible sustaining thing, and something of a miracle.
That's what's keeping me here.
