My Dog Ate My Journal

a writing prompt for you + April Writing Hour

Welcome to Writing in Company. Each week I share some words and a writing prompt, meant to be jumping-off points for you to write about what matters. Use the prompts however you like—to journal, to draft thoughts for your own writing project, as meditation or prayer ideas, or for another creative endeavor. You can always look back through the archive for more ideas. Grab your pen and paper, and let your words loose on the page.

The dog celebrated her 4th Gotcha Day this week. We adopted her in the early days of Covid, ready to do most anything to make better our daughter’s forced home-from-college stay. We watched the local shelter’s posts where the week’s adoptees got snapped up almost immediately in our dog-loving community. The answer seemed to be an in-person visit where we could fill out the paperwork.

Going in, we had our eye on a dog they called Trixxie, estimated to be a year old. No for-sure breed—maybe some mountain cur or yellow lab mixed up with who-knows-what. When we got to the shelter, we headed for her kennel, and she came right up to us, tail wagging. Then her neighbors began barking, and she retreated to the corner. Down the row, another dog desperately wanted our attention. He was eager and loud. Non-stop loud. We walked back to see our first friend hanging out quietly, weary (and wary) of all the noise. “Choose me, or not” she seemed to say. “I’m over this place. Let me know when you decide.” The quiet dog over the loud jumpy one? It was no contest.

We took a trial walk with her, which gave us some insight. She was anxious, which went along with the account of her being picked up on the street. She was interested in sniffing the ground, but not in cuddles with us. She appeared to have just had puppies. Back inside we asked again about her age. “Maybe 10” the vet’s notes said. (Aha! That advertised “age 1” was either a typo or a ruse to get us in the door. It worked.)

We agreed to a trial foster week, and then, of course, she was ours. We changed her name to Twyla¹, and she adjusted quickly to a house with a soft bed, plenty of belly rubs, and time for long quiet naps. When our daughter went back to school, the dog stayed. She is still anxious—about ceiling fans and thunderstorms—but not about us. She knows she is loved. As long as you don’t pin her down, she likes being with us. She adores that I work at home now, and is sad when I leave her.

This is becoming problematic.

Yesterday, after a meal out, I discovered a chewed-up pen on the floor. Not just a little bit gnawed—it was destroyed. Then I walked around the chair and saw this.

My pen and my journal?! Good thing I use the cheapies from the dollar store.

She chewed up the pages from a workshop I took on using the senses while writing, and started in on the ones from an online class I’m leading this month.² There are teeth marks on the page where I wrote to this prompt:

Make a list of ordinary objects you’ve used today.

My list included:

• washing machine

• legal pad

• dog bowl

• printer

• mailbox

Now, pick one and write more about it. Start by describing how you used the item, then just keep writing, without stopping or editing.

I picked the dog’s bowl, and wrote this in our 5-minute sprint:

I filled up the dog’s bowl with water this morning. I use a red plastic mug with my former church’s name on it to add water from the tap. The water goes into the bowl that the movers gave us—a set that had been left on their truck from a previous load.

What dog got to its new house and didn’t have its dishes? How did its people make a home for it?

We’ve made a home for our dog. Four years to the day from when we rescued her—already a senior dog, during the first weeks of the pandemic.

A daughter home, lonely for her school friends, in a new town where she knew no one. So we made a home for the dog, for her, for ourselves.

Water from the tap, in a gifted bowl, plentiful and free. Like holy water.

Now it’s your turn.

a writing prompt

Make a list of ordinary objects you’ve used today.

Now, pick one and write more about it. Start by describing how you used the item, then just keep writing, without stopping or editing.

Or, write about your own four-legged friends.

(And keep your journal safe!)

April Writing Hour - Saturday, April 27 | 4-5 pm Eastern

My next live writing hour on Zoom for paid subscribers is this Saturday. If you want to write in company with others, you are welcome to join in. You can upgrade your subscription for a month ($7) just to try it. A separate email to paid subscribers will go out with the link, or you can find it on my Substack tab called Writing Hours. Let’s be brave and write together.

Upcoming Faith & Grief workshop

Please pass the word about the upcoming series called Light the Way through Faith & Grief, a Dallas-based group that does such good work with and for grieving people. They are holding a special series of online roundtables and workshops in May and June about grief and parenting. Topics include Parenting While Grieving, Grieving Your Parent, Mindful Memory Keeping, and I’ll be leading a Bereaved Mothers Writing Workshop on Saturday May 4th. Find out more about the series and my workshop and register here: Light the Way

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Twyla

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You might like this related post:

1. Trixxie (with double xx!) was absolutely not her. We were watching Schitt’s Creek at the time, and the character Twyla was resilient, sweet, and kind. Plus, Twyla Tharp is a creative legend. We often call our Twyla bébé.

2. I’m sending love to the workshop member saying good-bye to their own sweet furry friend this week, to the grieving family I met in the vet parking lot last week, and any of you in their shoes.