Blessing of the Animals

   We took Tiegan and Miles to a Blessing of the Animals service in a little outdoor chapel in a grove of pine trees. This was one of those hope-overrides-reality situations.

    When we got out of the car, Eric took Miles. I took Tiegan, two lawn chairs, a blanket, and a bag containing treats and another blanket. If I had also balanced a large basket of fruit on my head, it would have been a fairly equitable distribution of labor. I set up our chairs, folded one blanket into a neat square between them and settled into a chair with Tiegan lying on my lap, wrapped in a blanket, serenely taking in the scene around us. 

    Although Miles was somewhat over stimulated, he was actually quite well behaved, especially compared to the handsome but fretful dog near us who emitted the whine of a bad engine belt throughout the entire service. Miles occasionally voiced sotto voce protests, but did not do his baby dragon imitation. Hallelujah!

     Eric did a masterful job, no pun intended, of keeping our boy under control, at least to our standards. Since Miles decided sitting on Eric’s lap was too simple, he put all four feet against Eric and pushed so he was standing sideways. A couple of times, Eric and Miles took short walks, which seemed to help.Thanks to a firm grip on his harness, and with a minimum of thrashing about, Miles stayed close to us and received lots of praise, treats, and reassurance. Both Tiegan and Miles were given multiple compliments and opportunities to sniff friendly humans.

    Fortunately, this was a dog-savvy crowd in that no one brought their dogs charging up within inches of other dogs to say “Hi!!” Miles was happy to receive human attention, even if other dogs were cause for concern. He is doing well with new and potentially worrisome situations.

    The service focused on the care and compassion our wonderful animals deserve and on living gently alongside other creatures and with the whole creation. Tiegan and Miles received little medallions and blessings: “May God, who created you in beauty and variety, now bless the companionship you share with people in your journey through life.”

  Tiegan and Miles are such treasures. We feel very blessed indeed.

  Tired little wild animals.