Today, a friend who reads my blog while he enjoys his morning coffee sent an email asking, “Do you ever walk your two dogs when they are staying in your home?” The thought of walking the dogs is about as realistic as my not waiting until the last minute to meet a deadline. It isn’t going to happen! For one thing, Samson (10 month old lab), who resembles the size of a small horse, doesn’t walk. He runs. In fact, I think he could hold his on in the Kentucky Derby. Samson only knows one speed. Walking is not yet in his limited vocabulary. I’ll be in trouble with my daughter for suggesting Samson is anything other than a canine version of a Rhoades scholar, but honestly there are times that Samson and I are not on the same wavelength.
In addition to providing me a chuckle, the thought of walking (or chasing) Samson and Colby (11 year old lab who is limited to walking) made me dog-tired just thinking about it. My being dog-tired is probably closer to the true reference of the term than for either of the dogs to be dog-tired.
According to my extensive search on Google (I checked one site), “Dog tired is an old English phrase usually hyphenated to dog-tired. An adjectival phrase meaning to be physically exhausted, it derives from an old tale of Alfred the Great who used to send his sons out with his extensive kennels of hunting dogs. Whichever of his sons, be it Athelbrod or Edwin, were able to catch more of the hounds would gain their father's right hand side at the dinner table that evening. These chases would leave them 'dog-tired' yet merry at their victory…”
So, for others of you, like myself, who mistakenly thought “dog-tired” had some relationship to the state of the dog, we could be wrong. “Dog-tired” could relate more to the state of a dog’s caretaker than the dog. On the other hand, the phrase “let sleeping dogs lie” could have some relationship to the concept of “dog-tired”. It really gets confusing, doesn’t it?
When I finally went to bed last night/early morning, I anticipated being “dog-tired” today. Surprisingly, I felt pretty refreshed when I got out of bed this morning. If fact I was up and getting ready for work before the alarm went off at 5:00 a.m.. As I was driving home from work today, I was undeniably in good spirits. Perhaps it was the thought that I’ve past the point of no return related to the book that was the driving force related to my attitude. It really is going to happen. With the publishers magic and expertise, it is well on its way to being a book. The very thought energizes me. It occurred to me that I was feeling almost euphoric.
Just the sensation of euphoria took me back to long ago. In my early thirties (I told you it was a long time ago), I frequently had cluster headaches. Talk about sick! A cluster headache would immobilize me for hours. There was no shortcut for finding relief. The cycle for getting better was always the same. The headache would be debilitating and associated with severe nausea. I always sought the cover of darkness even if it required putting a pillow over my eyes. Eventually (hopefully sooner than later), I’d drift off to sleep. Sleep was a critical piece of the healing process. I had to be asleep before things would get better. When I awakened, the earlier pain and nausea would be replaced with a surreal sensation. I always equated it to euphoria.
Today, driving home from work, the sense of euphoria following a painful episode that left me more than a little “dog-tired” seemed worth the effort. For those of you who’ve encouraged me to write, thank you.
All My Best!
Don