Separate Universes

Certain revelations have to be repeated daily for me.  It doesn't matter how big or forceful my "Aha!" is:  if I didn't truly get it before I will probably have to be bludgeoned over the head with this realization again.  I think the AA phrase "One Day at a Time" best captures my need to discover important things over and over.

One of these epiphanies is the separate universes inhabited by us and our dogs.  I have known this for years and have read about it, but I still have light and music when I see it again as if for the first time.  This morning Prophet and I were coming over the top of Spuyten Duyvil Hill when I saw the red light of dawn on the New Jersey Palisades and the entire thing reflected below in the momentarily calm Hudson River.  I looked at Prophet to see whether he was sharing this magic moment, but he was otherwise occupied.  For a short moment I wondered whether dogs were denied awe and wonder.

Then I remembered the moment we left the house.  There is still a dusting of snow over the two-inch crust of ice and the few inches of snow below.  Prophet dashed up onto an intact surface, snatched some up in his mouth, and then rolled on his back in ecstasy.  I stood watching.  Had he wondered whether humans are denied awe and wonder?

We walk through the same spatial coordinates of latitude, longitude and altitude but we inhabit separate universes that have only some intersections.  For days, Prophet has been walking on top of that icy crust, only occasionally breaking through.  Every step I take off trail has me plunging through the crust ankle deep (sometimes calf deep.)  I am much less willing to go on off-piste adventures under these conditions.  For me they are trudges, focused on my feet.  For Prophet, even the skidding on slippery surfaces seems to be fun.

And then there is all that urine.  We walked on an errand later in the morning and I managed to control my goal orientation with the memory that I had no particular time limits.  That meant that I could allow myself to wait each time Prophet absolutely had to stop to study some other dog's urine.  Does he analyze it?  Does he reflect on it?  Is it an aesthetic savoring?  Is it all of these?  Or is it something else beyond my imagination?  At this moment I have no way of knowing.  I just know it doesn't interest me.

And then, as I have mentioned before, occasionally Prophet stops to sign the guest book himself.  Why that time and not the time before?  Is it an enemy who he has to dis?  Is it a friend who he has to say "hey" to?  All I can do is wonder:  be filled with awe and wonder.