Puppy planner

How do people without dogs organize their days?

I’ll admit, I’ve quite forgotten.

As most of you know, my dog Rory has been in the hospital since Monday morning.  (He’s coming home later today.)  I knew his being away would be weird for me — the house seems empty when he’s at the groomer for three hours — but I never imagined how profoundly his absence would change my days.

For starters, I can’t get up in the morning.  Rory is my alarm clock.  I find myself falling back to sleep…and I usually pop right out of bed.  Yesterday, noises in the hallway finally jarred me awake at 9:00am!

Nice one, Carla.

I also forget to eat meals without Rory here to remind me.  I work from home and, without his very regularly scheduled head bumps on my leg at noon and five o’clock, I end up eating two or three hours late…or not at all.  And I don’t get my regular walks in Central Park or around the neighborhood, either.

It’s true what they say — dogs do keep you healthy.

And bedtime just isn’t the same without Rory Dog around to ‘bark me in.’  (I never seem to move fast enough for him, so he is always ‘encouraging me’ to move it along.)  Last night I found a dozen mindless chores to occupy my time, and didn’t lie down until almost two o’clock in the morning (which may also explain why I overslept).

Rory loves his routine, and his routine has become mine.

And apparently, I need his daily supervision to stick to it.