Thanks for putting up with my NYC report. As a girl who often only sees other people or leaves the mountain once a week, the trip was a big deal to me. And, to our canine heroine too. Here is how Lilly coped.
In the last year or so, I’ve taken five work-related trips. None were as long as this one. Three nights, four days … and Lilly, our sensitive girl, noticed.
While Mommy is Gone!
Tom lets the dogs sleep with him in the big bed in our master bedroom, rather than in their crates, when I travel, so Lilly got plenty of Daddy Time.
Granted, he cheats and feeds them out of bowls, rather than activity feeders, because it’s faster and less noisy.
And, I’m confident he played fetch and such with the dogs while I was gone.
We Skype every night via our laptops, so that I can see him and the dogs live on camera … which helps me a lot.
Lilly gets excited when she hears my voice, and I even got her to howl with me over the computer, but clearly, she doesn’t understand where I am and why I’m not home.
Mommy is Home!
Lilly definitely wiggles, squeaks, barks, and kisses when I get back from a trip. I know she is happy to see me. But, that phase doesn’t last long (maybe 5 minutes). Then, she wanders off and sleeps.
The substantial sleep deprivation from the trip meant gooey, spicy Mexican takeout on our way home from Denver International Airport. So, we hunkered down with ready-made food and a little TV.
Then, wedged between Tom and Lilly, I fell asleep on the couch, mostly sitting up. I lasted just over an hour before konking out, waking up, and stumbling off to bed with my sweet cuddle pup.
Nearly 11 hours later, I woke up and muddled my way through some email and thank you notes.
That Monday is when I realized how much Lilly missed me. She kept:
- Climbing into my lap
- Kissing me
- Nibbling on my head
- Trying to convince me to leave my desk
Lilly can be persistent (ahem). So, I did. I was too tired to think anyway, and us girls went back to bed. We woke up to have lunch, then went back to bed again.
Calm, quiet, patiently waiting and sleeping at my side, Lilly held vigil until I seemed more like my usual self … mostly rested, mostly coherent.
And, then everything was back to normal the next day.
Recovery Ratio
It seems, then, the ratio of travel upset for Lilly is 4 days of me being away = 1 1/2 days of worry / recovery. Really it was only 2 whole days of not seeing each other, with two long travel days on each end, but I think Lilly counts it as 4, so I count it as 4.
Because we spend all day, every day together (and have for the last 6 1/2 years), I’m sure Lilly has a different sense of time when I’m gone.
P.S. Today is the day we celebrate Ginko and Lilly’s birthdays. He is 11. She is 7.
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