This is Deputy Digby Pancake.  I may have written the blog yesterday, but you have me back again today.  Why?  I read your mind.  Because Sheriff Brickle is busy recuperating from drinking too much salt water…

Seems like our days in this Florida place keep getting better and better lately.  We wake up at the beach everyday, the sun is shining, the Scarlet Pimpernel starts tapping on our window at exactly 7:32 a.m. each morning, and at night, the ocean breeze puts us to sleep.  Yes, this has been such a good rest.  In fact, Girl Person says that she is trying to forget our last day here is at the end of June.  But I say, when you don’t know what comes next, enjoy where you are in that moment.  And so that’s what we are trying to do. Because things will work out whether we know it or not.  I know it.  I believe it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BihrHNWAZ9V/?taken-by=2travelingdogs

You might be wondering if Boy Person fixed our air conditioner, or the power, or if the Jeep is fixed.  I will answer no to all of the above.  Has he worked on it?  A little.  But something else needed fixing first.  Us. And the ocean and sand are the best mechanics of our weary souls.

You see, we were starting to get that Depression Monster in the RV again because we did not find a house here that we could pay for in peanut butter cookies and pancakes.  We were starting to get down because it felt like everything was breaking.  We had to say goodbye to Memaw Macaw as she left her lifelong family home with Lele and Tommy Cat.  It wasn’t an easy day.

“I don’t mind the leaves that are leaving. It’s the leaves that are coming.”

And we were losing focus.  We don’t do good without focus.  But the persons realized too that we all were needing to stop and regroup.  We were needing to work on ourselves a little to see what we really wanted to do here in life and where we wanted to go.  And if we kept going nonstop, there would be no time to find out.  We had to stop.  We had to say hello to ourselves.  It had been too long.

Hello seems like an easy word.  I mean, I could probably learn to say it if I had to.  But I see persons all of the time rushing around.  They pass each other and say nothing.  They pretend that they don’t see each other.  And I think that is the strangest thing.  You may think it is odd how dogs greet each other, but at least we say hello in our own ways! It works.

And as I was sitting here at camp, thinking about life on a Wednesday, I thought of what a bear once said. A bear that likes honey which is ok with me, because it leaves me more maple syrup.

“On Wednesday, when the sky is blue,
and I have nothing else to do,
I sometimes wonder if it’s true
That who is what and what is who.”
– Winnie-the-Pooh”

― A.A. Milne

Now.  I am not a poet, and I do know it, but I kinda get it.  You see, nothing is really as we see it.  We get so concentrated on ourselves, and all of our problems, that we think we are too busy to say hello.  Which means we are thinking that we are too important to say hello.  And we aren’t.  We aren’t louder than the ocean waves, we aren’t sandier than the sand, we aren’t as breezy as a breeze.  We are us, and that is a good thing.  But we have to love and acknowledge who and what is around us.  It makes us better persons and yes, dogs.

We all have work to do on ourselves.  But rushing around makes you forget about it.  Naps are good.  Rest is good.  Food is good.  Life. Is. Good.  Stop and give yourself what you deserve.  Say hello to yourself so that you can say hello to others.  It all goes hand in hand and paw in paw.

So as Girl Person walked into a store this morning, another person tried to walk faster to beat her in the door.  Girl Person didn’t mind as much because she was trying to listen to me for once.  As the person rushed by her, ignoring her, Girl Persons simply said…you guessed it…hello.  And the person looked at her in shock.  She hadn’t even saw Girl Person.  This other person was so busy, it had not occurred to her to look up.  She told Girl Person she was sorry, that she was in such a rush.  Girl Person smiled.  You see, sometimes, persons don’t mean to be in their own world, but this world leads them to think it is ok.  It is not ok.  Life was not meant to be rushed by.  We only have so many days.

Saying hello takes a second or two if you have a sticky mouth with maple syrup in it.  So live life sweet and slow.  And if life has swept you by, like it has us lately, all it takes is acknowledging that you need a break.  You deserve it.

Of all the adventures we have had in life, and the past two years on the road, it seems as though we still need to find ourselves.  This expedition has just begun.  Maybe you need to come along too.  First, start by saying hello.

-Deputy Digby Pancake

Don’t miss Girl Person LIVE on our Facebook page today at 4:30 p.m. ET!  She will be continuing our cooking classes for May and the Retro Inspired Recipes theme!  Today’s recipe?  She will be demonstrating how to make Red Pupper Cheese Dip For Dogs and people to share!