Cassie is not a fan of the rain. When she rings the bell to go outside normally all I have to do is slide open the door and watch her trot out back to take care of business. Except when it’s raining. The door opens and she sniffs the air then glares at me as though the stuff falling from the sky is all my fault.

She steps out, hesitantly. She really has to pee but she doesn’t want to get wet. So she stands in the middle of the patio (getting wet because there’s no overhang or tree for shelter) and instead of just racing on and doing what she needs to do she folds her ears back, tucks her tail between her legs, and waits. For a creature descended from wolves it’s really laughable to watch her cower in the pouring rain.

I want to tell her to hurry up. That the sooner she takes care of things, the sooner she can come back in and get dry. But I don’t know if it would make a difference, even if I could make her understand me. It’s like she wants to have something to complain about.

In some ways I’m a lot like Cassie. When I think about some writing projects, some assignments I might have that aren’t at the top of my fun list or some kind of business part of the job that I keep postponing, I know I should just jump in and take care of them so I can cross them off my list. But I don’t. I wander around the house, moaning and complaining about how much I don’t want to do something and probably spending more time whining about it all than it would have taken me to do whatever needed doing.

I watch Cassie getting more and more wet as she makes no attempt to move off the patio and do what she is supposed to be doing. I sigh, and utter the magic words, “Go potty and you can have a cookie.”

She looks back at me and gives a few short wags of her tail before finally walking off behind the back of the house. A few minutes later she bounds back inside, glued to my side until she gets the promised treat. She’s been rewarded. All is right in her world.

I think sometimes I forget to give myself a cookie, or even the promise of one.

I’m working on changing that. How about you?