Pet Peeved

“Please participate alone in a quiet, private location free of children and pets.” This statement was read aloud at one of my video meetings each week. It was a meeting discipline that I didn’t follow very well. The reason is I have a very special dog named Shadow. She’s part Chihuahua, part mutt, and pure-bred spoiled. Shadow is glued to my hip once I get home from work, and all weekend. Her name fits her perfectly. Wherever I go, she goes, too, and that includes the bathroom and video meetings.

Shadow attended so many meetings with me that she began to recognize the order of things we said each week. One time, we were finishing up a meeting during the first week of the month. This meant that we were going to have a business meeting following our weekly FA meeting. At the close of the first meeting, we all unmuted and said the Serenity Prayer aloud together.

At the start of the prayer, Shadow bounded up out of her bed and ran to the door. She wore a look of expectation as she pranced by the door, and it hit me that she realized the Serenity Prayer meant it was time to leave the room and go for our evening walk. It was time to go back into the world fortified by the FA meeting and shares. Needless to say, she was very disappointed when we said the Serenity Prayer again right away in order to start the monthly business meeting.

The disappointed look on her face was priceless, and I promised her we’d walk soon. To me, the Serenity Prayer is surrendering to my Higher Power, but to Shadow it has a whole other meaning. It makes me smile knowing she has heard it often enough that she recognizes what usually comes next.