Grow Old With Dogs

When I am old....
I will wear soft gray sweatshirts....
and a bandana over my silver hair....
and I will spend my social security checks on wine and my dogs.

I will sit in my house on my well-worn chair and listen to my dogs breathing.
I will sneak out in the middle of a cold winters night and take my dogs for a run, if my old bones will allow...

When people come to call, I will smile and nod as I show them my dogs...
and talk of them and about them....
....the ones so beloved of the past
and the ones so beloved of today....

I will still work hard cleaning after them,
mopping and feeding them and
whispering their names in a soft loving way...
as I bough my lips to their ears, while gently scratching their soft furry heads.

I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat,
like a jewel and I will be an embarrassment to all...
especially my family...
who have not yet found the peace in being free
to have dogs as their best friends.....

These friends who always wait, at any hour, for my footfall...
and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep,
to greet me as if I was a long lost best friend, even tho I had just been with them 2 hours before.

With warm eyes full of adoring love and hope that I will always stay,
I'll hug their big strong necks...
I'll kiss their dear sweet heads...
and whisper in their very special company..
how much I love them.

I look in the mirror... and see I am getting old....
this is the kind of person I am...and have always been...and am happy to be.
Loving dogs is easy,
they are part of me and I am part of them.

Please except me for who I am.
My dogs appreciate my presence in their lives....
they love my presence in their lives and I love being their...
When I am old this will be important to me...
you will understand when you are old....
if you have dogs to love and be your best friends.

Author Unknown