The Walking Mad

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.
Henry David Thoreau
***

Today, six days into the new year and already I’m fighting mad with myself. I thought this was going to be a good year and the start of something good. But the other day, my dog was hit by a car.

I heard the truck, I saw how shaken Sassie was with blood on her face, her body trembling, and panting like a mad dog when coming back into the house. Instincts said, ‘the truck hit her’ but it looked like a bite of some wild animal, I just wasn’t sure.

She yelped as if something hurt, I just didn’t know. She paced around the rooms, tried hiding in spots, frantically searched for something that was nowhere to be found. I put her on the leash and took her outside, maybe she could give me a clue as to what happened, and I saw the red truck still parked over at the empty neighbors house.

He got in his truck, trailer following, bouncing with a rumble and he pulled up to where Sassie and I were standing. He got out, “Is she okay?” My response, oddly enough was, "Did you hit her?"

He went on to say how she came out of nowhere, he didn’t see her but he heard her yelp, a little too late. He stopped to see if we ‘Needed to put her down.’

“No way!” I said adamantly, “she ain’t going nowhere.” He reached to pet her and in Sassie fashion, she licked his hand. (Never bite the hand that hit you?) A little yelp left her mouth and he got back in his truck saying how sorry he was. Also that we should get her to the vet.

The vet ~ just to walk in the office can run hundreds of dollars, money we only dream of having. I took Sassie back in the house, where she paced, let out a few more yelps, then finally settled down. I put ice on her face for the entire day, she slept in my room (a rarity) and the night broke into morn where we all scurried to take care of the wounded dog.

Instincts are vital instruments in our psyche’s. Sometimes I listen to mine, other times, the voice of reason gets in there and smacks me around a bit, leaving me confused and thinking my instincts were all wrong, but in the end, my instincts have a pretty good percentage rate of being right.

This week has been a mad week of newcomers into f2k, the free writing course. As I mentioned earlier, this is a new site, but a course that is twelve years old and still going strong with hundreds of wannabe writers scrambling to get in and get writing. They don’t read the tips from the mentors, they don’t read the rules and regulations, they just want to write. “Where’s the lessons?” one says, another shouts, “I can’t find the classrooms!”

Over and over again throughout the week, I’m telling them READ THE TIPS! LEARN to maneuver the site!  But again and again they scream, “Where’s the lessons? Where do I post?” I understand that a new site, a new forum can be intimidating to a lot of people, but if only they’d take the time to read the tips, they would not be lost.

The point of this whole post is this: Sometimes we need to listen, either to what others are trying to help us with, or what our instincts are trying to burn into our brains. We can’t be neglectful of the help that is given us and think that in some way, that WE are in control of everything. Step off your high-horse! You don’t have all of the answers to everything. Sometimes you just need to trust and obey!