Conversations with Sadie

I’m a social person.  A very social person... and I talk a lot.  This is most of the reason I never tried living alone; I can’t imagine coming home and not having someone to talk to at the end of the day.  So it’s weird that JD’s been working night shifts for most of the month, and I’ve spent many evenings alone in the house. 

I find myself talking to the dogs more and more.  And not just a “hello” when I first walk in the door, I’m talking full on conversations, usually with Sadie, because she has a tendency to follow me around.  She always likes to know what we’re up to, so I like to pretend that she’s genuinely interested in what I have to say.

“Well Sadie, what should we have for dinner?” I asked her the other night.

She looked up and waged her tail at me.  I grabbed leftover pizza out of the fridge, and she eyed it hungrily.

“No, you can’t have the pizza.  I’ll heat that up for myself.  You can have dog food.  I know it’s boring, but we buy you the expensive stuff, so it could be worse.”

She kept wagging her tail.  She had no clue what I was saying, but she did seem to acknowledge that I was talking to her, so I continued.

“Maybe next time we’ll buy you the venison flavor.  It’s more expensive, but I know you guys really like it.”

She was still waiting for a bite of pizza.  She licked her jaw and scooted forward.

“I really can’t give you any of this.  I know you.  You’ll start to feel entitled and never leave us alone when we’re eating again.”

Then I realized that I’d spend the last few minutes having a conversation (very one-sided, I might add) with my dog.  In that moment, I realized two things. 1.  I'm crazy.  2. I'm extremely glad JD switches back to day shifts in a week.