Some might find it perverse that a middle-aged woman gets so much joy spending the night with her 16-year old poodle, but I make no apologies for my indulgence. Ben used to snore which was mildly annoying, but with age and weight loss, the snoring has stopped. Now all I hear is his light breathing and an occasional cry from a bad dream. The vet told me that with age come unsettling dreams in dogs. I always wonder what he’s seeing: is a big German shepherd chasing him? Is a car coming near? What could cause his otherwise peaceful sleep to erupt into these occasional screams? As soon as I hear him, I pet him gently. Then he settles back into his sound sleep, comforted by the heat from my electric blanket beneath him. When Ben was a puppy, he always woke up early, demanding a pre-dawn walk. But with age, he’s sleeping longer, sometimes until 9 or 10 am. I crawl out of the bed in the morning, sometimes hours before he does. But like an anxious mother, I leave the bedroom door open so I can hear him when he awakens and wants to walk. Once I missed his signal and he jumped off the high bed alone. He made it to the floor, but his arthritic bones suffered and I don’t want that to happen again. Sometimes I envy Ben for his ability to sleep long and hard. My nights are more like my father used to say, “ in chapters.” I wake up three or fours times, make sure Ben is fine and then return to sleep. When I was young I could stay in bed, like Ben, into the late morning. Now I get up early, but my soul is still in the bed with Ben.
Tags: Winter Nights
