It's All in the Eyes

Diamond, my German Shepherd, is sitting on the rug next to my desk this morning, gazing at me with her big liquid chestnut brown eyes. She isn’t happy, because Phil drove off in the truck a little while ago and didn’t take her with him. She’s here for the day with me, to keep me company and guard me from any possible intruders into our domain.

It’s been a long, hard week for me. We had “staff collaboration week” at CoreNet Global, where I work, which meant getting up before dawn every day, traveling the 52 miles to the office in Atlanta, and then sitting in meetings a good portion of the day. I was late getting home in the evenings, so Diamond and I haven’t been on a walk together since last Sunday. She is patiently waiting for me to finish whatever it is that keeps me occupied at my desk. Her ears are perked up; she is on alert – ready to go! She’s even beginning to make her signature sound – a little whining noise to remind me that she’s here, and not so patiently waiting for me.

For myself, I am tired. It’s not that I’ve been that busy at these collaboration meetings, but that I’ve been off my schedule, eating food that I’m not accustomed to eating, and not getting enough rest at night. I've missed my evening walks with Diamond. In addition, on Wednesday evening after the workday was over, we had a staff bowling party, and of course I couldn’t miss it. Bowling was a riot – I was on a team with two good bowlers, myself, and another co-worker whose bowling style was just about as clunky as mine. The most entertaining part of it all was that Elaine and I (the two who couldn’t bowl) had the highest scores for the first game! Nicki, the bowler, remarked that she couldn’t understand how two people with such weird techniques could beat her at her own game! For the second game, I redeemed myself and bowled a pretty terrible game, with a low score to match. I even dropped the ball at one point and it went backwards! Everyone around us laughed and cheered. I took a bow and tried again, this time managing to aim the ball in the right direction. It really was lots of fun, and a wonderful diversion from the intensity of the week’s activities at work.

But back to Diamond. She doesn’t understand work or bowling, or anything about my job at all. All she knows is that she‘s bored and irritated that she’s not in Phil’s truck this morning. I can’t stand the sad look in her eyes another minute.

We’re going for a walk!