I am facing a major event. I am turning 60 years old this summer. I am terrified. When I turned 59 I realized that I had one year to do everything I thought would make my life complete. So how did I handle this increasing sense of doom? We got a dog. Saving this kennel pup was going to help me achieve absolution for all the undone good deeds in my life. So we went to a high volume shelter that mostly houses pit bulls and strays. Go big or go home, right? We left with a mixed breed 54 pound dog. He seemed to acknowledge that we were there while he was running around in the enclosed area, peeing on the little house they have, so we said, “yep that’s the one for us.” He was supposed to be 5 years old so we thought “calm”. The description said shepherd mix. As it turns out he has a total of zero shepherd in him. Zero. And as for calm…well, you can judge. But we had a shepherd before and he was a great dog, so we were sold. We named him Chester, although I have a nephew with a cat named Chester, which I should have thought of before we named him because now we have to call him Chester Too. Anyway, Chester came home.
We decided that not knowing him or his habits, we would walk him a lot. I took the morning walk, which starts about 5:45am. Now at 5:45am there aren’t many people around, and it’s dark. We walk, and I think. I think about life, about music, about the world, about Chester’s poop, and about whatever interests me at that particular moment. So, as part of my good deed atonement plan I decided to write the world changing thoughts down. I’ll include the wonderfully complex songs Chester and I make up. Keep in mind he is a dog. So he has some trouble with the high notes.
Walking Chester 