April 11, 2008 

Susan

I’m a real dog person. In fact, we’re on our 6^th golden retriever. When I was pregnant with our first child I actually phoned my mother to fearfully ask, “Mom, what if I don’t love this new baby as much as I love my dog?” After she finished laughing, my Mom assured me that this was one thing I did not need to worry about!

Over the years I’ve learned many lessons from our dogs. Our retriever Duchess had the habit of always greeting me whenever I came in the front door. The moment she heard the knob turn, she’d race to the door, grabbing a magazine off the coffee table and with her tale madly wagging she’d greet me with joy. She made coming home fun. She knew how to celebrate the greeting! But as the years went by and Duchess grew old it became difficult for her to get up off the basement floor and come to greet me. Coming home wasn’t as much fun. No one was there to meet me. It was no longer a celebration.

 As I thought about Duchess in her old age I realized I had become like her. It was often too much trouble to stop paying the bills, or doing the laundry, or cooking to go to the front door and throw my arms around my husband John (or our kids) and say, “I am so glad you are home!”     

 It was simply easier to call out “hey” and keep doing what I was doing. When this hit me, I knew that I was missing an opportunity. When my husband opened the door, I needed to stop whatever I was doing and immediately go to the door and throw my arms around him and say, “I’m so glad you are home.” I needed to train my kids to do this as well.

It seems like such a little thing, but it’s the little things in life that make a big difference. Learning to celebrate the greeting is one small step we can take in the empty nest. And we can train our grandkids to do the same thing!