Categories

They had a pet adoption near the grocery store. We don’t need another pet, yet we are hard hearted enough to enough to play with the cute doggies while they are available for petting.

While we were there, a family came by with a poodle. The volunteer referred to it as a “surrender.” They could keep the dog sand these volunteers would take the dog and find a remand the home for it.

Doggie was dumped in the pen with the other orphan dogs. My daughter was holding as many on her lap as would come in the pen.

Poodle stared into the corner. His family was gone. He didn’t know what was going on. The other dogs left him alone.

He began to growl softly. He didn’t know what was going on but he did know he didn’t like it.

“You don’t like this do you?” I said to him. “It’s ok. You will find new people.”

He was not comforted and continued to growl. I thought about how alone he must feel. What was his place in the world?

Dogs are pack animals. I thought I was help him remember he had a place.

“Sit!”

He was not listening to me, put I insisted. I pointed at the ground, and repeated the command until his fuzzy bottom was planted on the ground.

He felt secure, because I reminded him of his place in the world. His place was in a pack.

A workshop I am taking was recommending coming up with categories for blogposts.

Oh I did not like that idea at all. I don’t Want anybodY telling me what I have to write.

Don’t fence me in! I have a topic, it’s “wonder.”

I would like to believe I am a person of infinite variety, however that is an illusion. I do more things habitually than not.

I heard an interview that Leonard Nimoy gave, in which he advised a young actor about typecasting.

After he played Spock, he said, he never lacked work. People knew what to do with him. Typecasting worked out for him.

So that little poodle, growling at the world, had an idea of what his place was. Except his family was gone and like it or not he had a new place. Clinging to false hope made him unhappy.

And so. I am going to put some categories around my posts. It will help everybody if I do.

I’ve heard it said that writing is far less about inspiration than about time spent with your butt in the seat doing the work.

Categories are another form of doing the work. It helps people know what to do with me.