Sometimes You Want To Be That Dog

Recently, a friend of mine wrote a post about her kid's want. The kid stated, "People graduate from kindergarten, high school and college. Can you graduate from work?" She made a statement saying, "Hilarious but sad at the same time".

I wanted to say a lot of things but in my comment section, I wrote, "there comes a time in our life when the roles are reversed. Get prepared". It sounded a little bit awkward and crude to something she recalled and wrote innocently that didn't call for an analysis.

We all recall our days with our kids. Laughable, strenuous effort on our part to fulfill our obligations, exasperation, telling ourselves that we are giving our best for the kids future and even getting disappointed that our sacrifice(we tend to believe) is not being appreciated.

The kids grow up. We take pride in their performances, their academic achievements, their involvement in extracurricular activities, the feedback from their teachers during the parent teacher meetings, and nothing seem to make us think otherwise that what we are doing is far from what the kids would expect.

One day, the kids move away. It becomes hard. Tears flow down our cheeks. We tell ourselves that the future of the kids is so important than our selfish desires. They graduate and find jobs in far flung places. They find their GFs. Still, they come home for NewYear, Spring holidays, Independence day celebration, Thanks giving and Christmas holidays. We are Ok with that as we come to reconcile their inability to be available at our beck and call.

Then they find jobs and start their life, getting married or not. The calls become so infrequent, our calls don't seem to find the same urgency they once did; emails, messengers and WhatsApp; suddenly there is a time delay because they no longer frequent it even when you find the green light burning on FB and they are online on WA. You call and you get the answer that they are retiring to bed after a long day's work. You sure understand.

Then they find pets. Dogs, so cute as puppies that no one could stop loving. They get trained by a trainer like you taught discipline to your kids. They get crated when they leave for work. They are taken to the Vet to get the shots like we do for the MMR, they get served food on time, find care givers when they have to go on a vacation only to come back and tell how much they missed their pets and how much longing they saw in their eyes. They have dog walkers to take them out during their lunch break, make sure that their nature's call are answered on time as they don't want to see them suffer.

When they come back from work, they let them out from their crates, cuddle them, hug them on a daily basis, let them lick because they know, that is how they convey their love, use them during their times of distress by sitting on the carpet instead of the sofas and rubbing their backs to gain their unequivocal love and attention which they, at times seem to miss from other human beings but in an odd way get to believe their love is reciprocated unconditionally.

The parents of the children who raised them once, are sitting on their recliners, waiting for a call from their kids, questioning each other whether they got a call though they know it is a distant possibility. They wait and wait and finally they get a call. The conversation revolves around about their health and how they are doing as the children seem to only want to hear that. Everything else appears to be answered as,"Great"," Fine" and the conversation ends as,"Call you soon. Love you". Parents retire to bed hoping for a better day and sometimes envying the dogs their children have as pets.

~Kripa.