This week marks the one year anniversary of Covid-19 arriving in Maine. Asa, our eternal optimist, claims that although there were many reasons to have a droopy tail this past year, there were also plenty of positive lessons to take away from it too. So today I’m going to put his theory to the test!
Chuck Billy: We were all told to stay home.
Asa: More quality time with family! Prior to this we spent most weekends running from one adventure to another. Some weekends we would even attend multiple dog events per day, and were exhausted by Sunday evening. It was nice not having the pressure to always be someplace, and to just spend time with Mom and Dad. This pandemic taught them to sit, stay, and appreciate the quiet moments together as a family.
Besides, we’ve been spoiled for years having our Mom and Dad working from home with us. Just think how awesome it has been for our dog and cat friends who were able to have their families home with them too! Our buddy Benji learned so many new things attending online classes with his human brothers. Oh and Roxie even earned herself the title of “Employee of the Year” working from home with her Dad. Not to mention so many meetings have been made all the better with dogs and cats adding their input during Zoom calls!
Chuck Billy: We haven’t seen our grandparents in a year.
Asa: Oh but you’re wrong! We’ve seen even more of our Babci and Pepere now that they know how to use FaceTime! We went from visiting them every few months in person, to seeing them weekly on their smartphone! Sure they can’t feed us treats while we visit, but we can still hear their voices, especially their laughs, and see their smiles. And Grandma went from being barely tech savvy, to being able to attend Zoom meetings with us. She now even has the confidence to teach her classes online, bringing her knowledge to a much wider audience than she ever imagined! Speaking of a bigger audience, thanks to Zoom we even were able to take a museum tour with our Great Aunt in The Netherlands! We never did that before the pandemic!
In fact, I’ll even go as far as to say this past year brought the world closer together as we all tried to adjust to this new routine. Tucker and Skipper shared their random observations which helped us to realize we weren’t the only ones thinking it. And as each country experienced lockdowns, our friends from around the world had so much more time to chat with us sharing their life hacks to get through it, as well as a lot of laughs. Also other friends, including our buddy Sawyer in Scotland, took this opportunity to share their corner of the world with us, leading us to dream of bigger adventures for when it is safe to travel again.
Chuck Billy: When Mom and Dad leave the house they look like they are planning a heist with their masks.
Asa: Well yes, they do look strange with their masks. But those masks give Mom and Dad superpowers! They now have the ability to use their time more wisely! Remember the old days when Mom and Dad were constantly leaving us to go do errands? No more “quick” trips to grab one or two items at the store. Now these errands have become well orchestrated events, that are planned in advance. And you know what that means, don’t you? More time home with us! We’ve played way more games of fetch this past year than ever! We also went on more daily walks. At one point we were going on four walks a day!
Chuck Billy: Three words: Toilet Paper Shortage.
Asa: I admit the way people hoarded things early on made my tail droop. But once again where some humans let us down, others rose to the challenge and found ways to share what they have so that others would not have to go without. That includes the many food pantries that started collecting dog and cat food, so our friends wouldn’t have empty bellies.
Oh and don’t forget all of the animals who found forever homes during this past year! As shelters had to limit, if not close their doors to the public completely, people came forward to adopt, leading many shelters to achieve an all-time record high of helping as many animals as possible. However, their mission isn’t over, and they still needed money. As annual fundraisers had to be canceled, folks thought outside the box, or rather inside of the box, by finding ways to host virtual events online. This opened programs to a much wider audience, who could never have attended in-person before. In fact, Azlan, despite living hundreds of miles away from us, joined us in the Paws Walk last summer. He even wore a special sign so all his neighbors knew! Also our friend Sophie leashed up her human and took her on special fundraiser virtual walk near and dear to our hearts, the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Hopefully some of these online programs will become annual events even after we can all gather together again.
Chuck Billy: My dream to become a therapy dog was put on hold.
Asa: Well yes, that was disappointing that on the day you were scheduled to take your Canine Good Citizen Certification test Maine closed all businesses. So that has had the ripple effect that your Therapy Dog Certification has been delayed. And there is the distinct possibility you’ll have to work really hard retraining Mom and Dad after a few of their bad habits slipped back while we were isolated at home. But in reality we’ve both been been working hard to bring smiles throughout this pandemic with our efforts to share happy tail wagging stories and photos every day. In fact, I’ll even go as far as to say all dogs, and even cats, became comfort animals as we shared our smiles across social media to make humans happy.
Yes, I understand my insistence on finding the positive in all of this negativity can be annoying, and even downright upsetting for some people who have lost so much this past year, including loved ones. I know full well that this has been a difficult year for so many. I’ve dried Mom’s tears on my fur, and sat quietly by Dad’s side when he was anxious. However, despite all the negatives there were some positive lessons too. So we just all need to stay positive and hang on a bit longer as our humans slowly but surely get their vaccinations. Then hopefully we can all go back to our old routines, but perhaps take with us a new perspective on what is truly important in our lives.
