A Morning Routine Remembered

When I went out for the paper this morning I had a nice memory of Gracie. Sometimes she would get up a little early and come downstairs to wait for me, then go outside with me to get the paper.

When I would get to the living room I would get a flash of the border collie eye and then there was a ritual display of standing up, stretching, and smacking her mouth after a yawn. Then a little tail wag, which would happen just as I was turning the door knob.

Some days, she'd go down into the yard, but sometimes she'd just stand on the porch at the top of the stairs and watch. We have a lot of neighbors who are sometimes out on dog walks at that hour, so I figure that socializing was a part of Gracie's motivation for this.

I'll bet it was just as often that she slept late, like a rock.

Still, that was a nice thought to start the day.