Of Furry Obstacles and Other Things by Konnie Enos

Some of the things I’ve experienced or witnessed in the past couple of weeks.

Most of these have to do with my continuing issue with my dog, Mabel, and Jerry’s black dog affectionately referred to as Fluffball. They both like sprawling out on the floor and usually choose someplace near either Jerry or me. A favorite spot for both is between our dresser and the foot of the bed. This action completely blocks my access to get from my bed too, well anywhere else.

Fluffball, generally, will see me heading toward him and immediately make efforts to stand up and move out of my way. However, he is getting older and the act of picking himself off the floor is a laborious task. This might be the reason that he has taken to just not moving until I ask him to. You know, like I have to do with the other furry family members who block my path. Even so, he still moves upon request.

Now I think Mabel has some cat in her because she simply does not care. She might look up at me, but unless I insist, she doesn’t move. Fortunately, she’s smaller than Fluffball so I can generally step over her. The times I can’t is when she is lying behind Jerry’s chair (when he is in it) and thus blocking my path out of the room or, you guessed it, between the dresser and foot of the bed. I can step over the width of her body but not the length.

So, a few days ago I needed to use the bathroom and found Mabel sprawled out on the floor in front of the bathroom door. She just looks up at me as I approach.

“Really?” I look at her waiting for her to move but she is just looking at me. “Move!”

She moves. When I got out of the bathroom I went back to my bedroom/bed because I still had homework to do. What do I find? One gray dog sprawled out between the dresser and the foot of the bed. I again had to ask her to move. Only then did she stroll away.

Then Tiger decided to get into the act. He sprawled right in the middle of the hallway. Being a cat, he’s not taking up that much room and most family members could step around him with ease.

I cannot.

Now, normally I could either step around him or take a slightly longer stride to step over him. However, since my left foot is encased in a boot, I can’t currently take that long of a stride. The boot also makes it impossible for me to step to one side or another. Meaning, while he wouldn’t have been in anyone else’s way, he was mine.

Fortunately, he decided he didn’t want my boot encased foot swinging anywhere near him and therefore quickly moved to a much lower traffic area.

Then there are events like last night when Mabel decided the best place to sleep was right against my backside. Since she is a sound sleeper all my attempts to get her to move were going unnoticed. I even tried to push her away. Have you ever tried shoving 25 pounds of dead weight away from you when it’s behind you and you can only get one arm into a position to even touch it? Yeah, I couldn’t even budge her.

I finally sat up (the only way I could move without falling out of bed) and used both hands to flip her over, so she was resting closer to Jerry. She was still a dead weight in the bed but at least I now had room to move.

Though I think the funniest one was last Sunday. Royce was by the kitchen counter talking to me, Melinda, and Tony when he happened to notice Melinda was not only limping some but one leg was fully encased in a knee brace.

“What happened to your leg?”

Melinda said, “Life.”

While I said, “EDS.”

Melinda then said, “I was born.”

It’s not like any of our answers were wrong.

We then had a short discussion on genetics while I contemplated my oldest child, also currently encased in a knee brace, but also looking at possible surgery, all because they inherited some crappy knees.

Then this, talking to some classmates.

One guy said, “I’m taking 16 credits and working full-time.” I was already astounded by how much he was taking on when he added something else that he was doing part-time.

I’m barely covering 15 credits and struggling to keep up with those and my family responsibilities, you know, like paying the bills. I’ve already spent two days on the monthly finances and still haven’t gotten the bills paid.

Such is life.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.