What Size His Domain?

Dearest Rachel –

For all the time he spends asleep, it’s amazing how hard Chompers resists being put to bed at night time. there are times when it’s an absolutely titanic struggle to get him to find a place where he’s comfortable enough to curl up and go to sleep. Considering how he has very little trouble doing so in the daytime, being in the sunroom with the family room, and you can understand my frustration and consternation.

It seems that he doesn’t really know what he wants, when it comes to settling down for the night. All he seems to know is that wherever he is, that’s not where he wants to be.

I’ve mentioned before that the vast open space that is your side of the bedroom now almost appears to confuse him. There are so many directions to go, that he doesn’t know where he wants to go. And so he tends to go in directions where, let’s face it, he shouldn’t (such as the Christmas tree).

Or maybe (and this is so much more maddening) he literally wants to go where he can’t. Tonight, in all the many directions he went, he seemed to try and stuff himself under your nightstand (I was on the verge of grabbing my phone and taking a picture when he appeared to give up and slide out). I’m not entirely sure if he’d fit, in fact. He might just, but I can’t see him being comfortable in there, confined as he would be in there.

On the other end of the scale, his peregrinations took him twice to the threshold of the laundry room, with him actually crossing it on his second attempt, only to find himself held captive by the fact that he could not make any progress on the smooth linoleum. Even as I nudged him to his feet, he continued to whine, unsatisfied at his progress.

So, either your side of the bedroom is just way too big for him, and he needs the most confined space that he can find, or it’s nowhere near big enough, and he has to venture out into a whole other room to find someplace that’s worthy of him so he can settle down.

It’s one thing to say (and I know I’ve quoted Mick and Keith before) that “you can’t always get what you want,” but if you don’t know what you want, you’re never going to get it. And that, honey, is where we seem to find Chompers more nights than not.

Was he like this back in the day? Did he wander around for what seemed like hours at a time, unable to get himself comfortable, before finally collapsing on some random point on the floor? it just seems like such a very weird behavior.

Although, at the same time, I wonder if it wouldn’t seem like very human behavior, if taken metaphorically. In so many ways, we don’t know what we want either, and we literally exhaust ourselves going back and forth, trying to find something – anything – that will satisfy us. And the best we can hope for is that when we finally collapse, we land somewhere at least reasonably comfortable.

Look, I don’t know if any of this is a reasonable evaluation of the human condition at all. But as I wait for him to finally settle down, I’ve really got nothing better to do with my time then to sit here and dictate these pseudo-profundities to Siri so that I can send them to you, and let you evaluate them for whatever it is you might think they’re worth.

So for what it’s worth, thank you for bearing with me. Thank you for being willing to listen and put up with these strange ramblings that come across my mind from time to time like this. At least you don’t have to stay up so late (although let’s not kid ourselves, this is still rather early as far as you were concerned) until your brain turns to mush, and thoughts like these actually seem reasonable. You can read these at your leisure, and evaluate them with a clear mind, whereas I have to get them out as soon as I think of them, lest I lose them entirely, as these thoughts float off like soap bubbles and pop, leaving nothing behind but a lingering film where they land.

Okay, I think that’s enough. If he’s not asleep at my feet at this point, he’s doing a very good impression of it. Good night, honey. Sleep well. May I see you in my dreams?