My Refuge

We all need a place to go when things in our lives aren't exactly right - or maybe just to steal away for a couple of hours to escape the reality of our own world. Today it hit me like a ton of bricks - my refuge is the dog park! I've been taking Luke every now and then, he has so much fun there and gets a great workout. What I didn't realize was how much I enjoyed going myself. Dogs and their owners enclosed in a very large fenced in area with benches, wood chips, trees, some dog toys and water bowls,tunnels to run through; what more do you need for an afternoon frolic. While he runs around like a frantic lunatic, chasing this, that and every dog in sight, I quietly sit on the bench inhaling the crisp cool air of late, soaking up the late September sun, lost in thoughts of everything and then nothing. Sitting there today I forgot that last night I clogged the garbage disposal. I forgot that I'm in three Science classes this year, and I hate Science. I forgot, for just a few minutes, how much I am missing Jamey and how empty our home and my heart feels without him. I forgot how tired I feel this week, just not myself, and how drawn my face looks. And oh yeah, I guess I also forgot how I should really be home doing a ton of housework instead of sitting here at the dog park. Yes, these things and more - they just don't matter for at least a little while.

I'm not sure how long you can keep going to the dog park. Does it close in the winter? Or do the dogs run around in the snow? I imagine that would be great fun to be all bundled up - I would still go, but will anyone else be bringing their dogs?? What about when we turn the clocks back and it's pitch black at 5:00 o'clock? I guess we'll have to go right after school when that happens.
Oh well, I'll just take it one day at a time. The important thing here is to have a safe place to go and hide from everything for a while. For now it's the dog park for me. Hmmm, the library could also work but I can't take Luke . . .