A Dog, a Window, an Attitude

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."

-----Winston Churchill

There is no shortage of attitude in my house lately. It's mostly mine, and it's the typical January junk. There are still a few remnants of Christmas décor hanging around that have yet to be put away, and even though we now have one of those Alexa dots, it's proven to be pretty useless, at least for me. The phrase, "Alexa, take down the Christmas tree" is met with responses like "Do you need information on Christmas trees" or "No connected lights found on this network" and "Do it yourself, I don't work for you." OK, that last one wasn't Alexa, it was me telling the dog to get her own dinner. That didn't work either.

This time of year can be so grey and washed out. It's cold, no surprise there, and it just seems that wind howls, the windows rattle and there isn't enough soup and hot tea to take the chill off. While there's nothing on the ground yet, pretty soon the snow will start, and that adds another risk of me going arse over teakettle on some slippery sidewalk. It's not a time of year I enjoy. It's the beginning of a new year, and no one is happier than I am to see the back end of 2018, but the sun is far too stingy at this time of year, and the air is thin and smells of winter and storms to come.

I was running errands the other day, and while it was cold, there was more sun than there had been in a few days and that is always a good thing. That whole Seasonal Affective Disorder is real; if humans are not exposed to enough sunlight, it literally messes with our brain chemistry. As I turned the corner downtown, I was thinking how nice it was that at least there was a cloudless sky and bright sun. Glancing around, I noticed there was a large window on a lovely home. The panes of glass were glinting where the light touched them and just inside was this incredible dog. Now, I'm a dog person. I love dogs, like I cannot walk by a dog without cooing at it, "Oh hey puppy, hi there" and if possible giving it a little pat or ear scratch. Dogs love that. And a dog, in a window, is there anything cuter?

This puppy was living his best life in that sunny spot. It was a bulldog; the technical term for dogs like him is "smooshy faced lovey mutt" and the group includes pugs, Boston terriers, Frenchies and any other dog that has a smooshy face. There he was, curled up in this patch of sun, snoozing away. He had to be snoring because dogs like that sound like a Harley that's missing a muffler when they nap. Just seeing him made me smile and snapped me right out of the doldrums of another post-holiday snit about something that, truly, didn't matter, but was still bugging me.

It's all about the attitude, right? Well, yes, of course, but we don't come with an on/off switch. A bad day can't always be ignored, and while it may have worked for Scarlett O'Hara, "fiddle dee dee, I'll think about that tomorrow" isn't much of a mood lifter. But a dog in a sunny window? Oh yes, please, that is magical. At least for me, someone else maybe not so much. The point is that all around us are these little moments, these small parts of the big picture that sometimes are overlooked. We are too deep in our own daily drama or as Prince said, too busy "doing something next to nothing, but different than the day before" to notice what's going on around us.

For me, it was a silly dog, who, by the way, is named Luigi and has quite a few fans, but maybe someone else might get a boost from seeing sea smoke enveloping the few boats left out in the harbor on a frigid morning. Perhaps it's the Epiphany tree burning with its distinctive smell of pine sap and dry needles. Hey, it could be a donut and a cup of coffee too, it's all about what snaps you out of your funk. Maybe we can't turn off a bad attitude and just create a better one, but perhaps noticing more of these tiny bits of fun can carry us through the clouds. I'm going to make a point of cruising by Luigi and his napping niche more often. Spring is on the way, but in the meantime? The song, "How Much is That Doggy in the Window" is now playing on Alexa and life is good.

 Find Luigi here on Facebook...say hi for me. King Louie of Marblehead