My son and his wife welcomed a sweet little puppy into their lives. He’s going to max out at about fifteen pounds. He’s jet black, filled with energy, completely attached to his human parents, and lovingly named Toshi. I couldn’t wait to meet my grandpuppy, so I took a solo trip to visit my son and his wife in Indiana after they first brought Toshi home. While my daughter-in-law was at work, my son and I took Toshi for an afternoon walk.
As cute as Toshi was, he was a pain in the butt to take on a walk! He kept stopping and refusing to walk, was afraid of almost every sound on the street, and despite the constant treats and sweet talk from my son, Toshi didn’t seem to gain much happiness from his walk away from his home. Yet suddenly, when we turned around and started heading back, Toshi became a new dog! He was thrilled to be walking, he lifted his head and his tail, and plowed forward to get back to his safe spot as quickly as he could.
A few weeks ago, my daughter did a solo driving trip across half of the country. She meandered her way through some of the eastern states, spent some time with friends, some time alone, and generally cleared her head from the loneliness and stress that a pandemic has brought to her life, as it has with many in her generation. She let us keep track of her via technology and thus we lived vicariously through her road trip from pictures and periodic FaceTime calls home.
What was most interesting about her trip was her Toshi-like drive back home. She got on the road early one morning and plowed her way back home in one intense fifteen-hour day. My husband and I checked in with her a couple of times and suggested that if she was getting too tired, she should stop for the night and finish her trek home the next day. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. When my daughter got home, she told us that she had this somewhat manic pull to get back home on that day. Much like little Toshi, the thought of getting back to her safe and loving home led my daughter to drive that full fifteen hours in one 24-hour period.
May we all find the safety and comfort of home this holiday season. #Christmas #Hanukkah #home #safety #comfort Click To TweetThroughout this pandemic, and as I think of my travel days of past, I realize that the privilege of having a safe and loving home to go to is without question one of life’s biggest blessings. I have vivid memories of my plane landing at O’Hare and me practically running through that giant airport to quickly find my car, and admittedly, speed my way home. I love to travel and all of the adventures that it entails. I also love to go home. When life is overwhelming, scary, and stressful, home is safe, inviting, and often filled with the things, people, and pets that we love.
Maybe we are all ultimately like little Toshi in that when the world is big and scary, we like to turn around and run home. Also, like Toshi, we ultimately get comfortable with getting out of our homes and seeing all that a big, scary, inviting world has to offer. I hope this holiday season offers you some time in a space that you call home and some time with people who feel like home to you. When sweet little Toshi gets home, he runs onto his comfy couch and curls up with his favorite humans. He is a wise little puppy indeed.
Love,
Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC