The Insurance Policy With Four Paws And No Deductible

On By 2 Traveling DogsIn dog blog

The Insurance Policy With Four Paws And No Deductible

Hello, friends! This is Fruitycake! Before we begin today’s very important discussion about insurance, depression and the questionable financial value of pizza crusts, I want to remind you that our daily stories and audio blogs are made possible by our Patreon family. For just $5 a month, you can join us every weekday as we share our real lives here in this Italy place, the funny parts, the difficult parts and the parts we are still trying to figure out. Your support helps us keep 2 Traveling Dogs and our rescue projects going as we prepare for a very uncertain next chapter. You can join us at https://www.patreon.com/2travelingdogsrescue. Now, please excuse me while I adjust my imaginary insurance agent’s necktie. We have serious business to discuss.

This is Fruitycake. I have recently learned that I am an insurance policy. This was rather surprising news, considering I have never filled out an application, attended a meeting or passed a background check. In fact, if anyone investigated my background, they would discover several incidents involving stolen food, unauthorized barking and one unfortunate misunderstanding with an acorn. Nevertheless, Girl Person says I am the best insurance policy she has ever had. Apparently, I help keep her here. And I don’t mean here in this Italy place, although someone certainly needs to supervise her on these slippery stone steps. I mean here on earth, participating in life, even on the days when life feels like a rather unpleasant participation trophy.

You see, Girl Person has that depression monster. Not the kind of sadness with a smile upside down that disappears after a long walk or a good meal, although I personally believe pizza deserves considerably more scientific investigation. Depression is a sneaky monster. Sometimes it busts in loudly, bringing tears and terrible thoughts. Other times it slips into the room so quietly that nobody notices it sitting in the corner, eating all the enthusiasm and leaving the dishes. There is a lot of dishes here to wash in the waterfall. 

Girl Person can be writing stories, making espresso, working on our rescue projects, helping insects escape the house and telling Boy Person that everything is going to be fine while that depression monster is sitting right beside her, whispering that perhaps nothing ever will be ok.  Failure, failure, failure.

I have watched her try to outrun it. I’ve tried to take her on longer hikes. She stays busy because being busy gives her mind somewhere else to go. She worries about the sale of the rustico in this Italy place, about where we will live next, about money, about the animals we want to help and about the people she misses who are no longer here. She worries about things that have happened, things that might happen and occasionally things that would require several unlikely events and a minor geological disaster to happen. Boy Person tells her not to worry so much, which is approximately as effective as telling me not to think about pizza. Truth is, he has the same monster too. 

Some mornings, Girl Person doesn’t want to get up. Not because she is lazy or because she doesn’t appreciate the life she has. She knows there is beauty all around us. She knows she has things to be grateful for. That is part of what makes depression so confusing. You can recognize that the world is beautiful and still feel terribly sad inside it. You can love your life and still feel exhausted by the effort of living it. You can know that people care about you and still feel very alone. Depression does not always listen to reason, which makes it remarkably similar to a dog who has discovered an unattended sandwich.

This is where my insurance policy comes into effect.

I need breakfast. I need water. I need walks. I need someone to inspect my paws, tell me I am handsome and explain why a perfectly respectable dog cannot eat every mushroom growing in the forest. I have appointments with particular trees, important investigations involving suspicious leaves and a very demanding schedule of naps. Girl Person knows all of this. Even when she cannot find a reason to do something for herself, she can usually find a reason to do something for me. And once she is outside with me, something interesting sometimes happens. She notices a flower growing out of a stone wall. She hears a bird singing. She laughs because I have become entangled in my own leash while attempting to investigate a smell of international importance. For a few minutes, the depression doesn’t disappear, but it has to share the room with something else.

I cannot make Girl Person happy every day. I cannot cure depression, negotiate with the buyer of this Italy place or explain why the universe insists on making everything so complicated. I What I can do is remind her that she is loved without requiring her to be cheerful first. I don’t care whether she has brushed her hair, finished her work or answered every message. I don’t need her to be inspirational. I just need her to be Girl Person.

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Of course, I am not the entire insurance policy. Boy Person is here, too, and there are people who care about her, even from far away. There are people she can talk to and people who can help when depression becomes too heavy. I am an excellent companion, but I do not have a medical degree, and my proposed treatment plan of unlimited pizza has not received professional approval. Loving a dog can give someone a reason to keep going, but nobody should have to survive on responsibility alone. Girl Person deserves care simply because she is Girl Person, not because she is useful to me or anyone else.

This brings me to our affirmation for October 26.

I Will Make One Thing Easier For Tomorrow

I do not have to solve tomorrow today, but I can leave tomorrow a small gift. One prepared meal, written note, cleared space or finished task can make the next day gentler.

I like this affirmation because it doesn’t ask Girl Person to conquer the world before lunchtime. It doesn’t even ask her to conquer the laundry, which, judging by the situation around here, would require military assistance. Boy Person has taken on this assignment since her surgery.

But perhaps she can put her walking shoes, her only shoes actually, beside the door, make something good to eat or write down one worry so she doesn’t have to carry it around in her head all night. Perhaps she can send a message to someone she trusts and tell them she has been having a hard time. Or perhaps the kindest gift she can leave tomorrow is a promise that she will stop expecting herself to be everything to everyone while she is still trying to find her own footing.

I have decided to participate in this exercise myself. Tonight, I will leave tomorrow’s Fruitycake a very thoughtful gift. I will place my favorite stick somewhere convenient, arrange my blanket into the appropriate sleeping position and perhaps hide a small piece of bread for breakfast. Girl Person says hiding bread overnight is not a gift but a rodent invitation. I disagree. It is called meal preparation, and I believe she should respect my commitment to personal development.

But there is something else I want Girl Person to understand. She spends so much time trying to make life easier for everyone else. She wants rescue dogs to have homes, frightened insects to have safe passage, Boy Person to have fewer worries and all of you to have something encouraging to read each morning.

I think about how strange it is that she rescued me, and now I have become part of what helps her through her own difficult days. She gave me a home, and I give her reasons to open the door. She makes sure I have enough to eat, and I remind her that she needs to eat, too. She worries about my future, and I keep bringing her back to the present. We have a rather unusual business arrangement, but so far neither party has filed a complaint. Except for the ongoing pizza shortage, which remains under investigation.

Maybe the real insurance policy isn’t simply having a dog who needs you. Maybe it is having love in your life that keeps inviting you back into it. Love that doesn’t demand an explanation for every tear.

I don’t know when this Italy place will sell. I don’t know where we will live next or what our lives will look like when we get there. Girl Person doesn’t know either, and that uncertainty has been particularly difficult for her. But I do know that tomorrow morning I will wake up and look for her. I will expect breakfast, a walk and an enthusiastic acknowledgment of my excellent appearance. We will go outside together, even if we only go a little way, and we will see what the world has been doing while we were asleep. She may still be sad. She may still be worried. But perhaps she will notice something beautiful, and perhaps that will make the morning a little easier.

And if tomorrow is another hard day, we will not declare the entire future a failure. We will simply try again, with help when we need it. That is one thing dogs are particularly good at. We do not assume that because yesterday was difficult, every day afterward must be the same. Every morning is a new opportunity to investigate the same tree and discover that, against all reasonable expectations, it smells completely different.

So if you are struggling today, I hope you will leave yourself one small gift for tomorrow. Put something good in the refrigerator. Write yourself a kind note. Ask someone to check on you. Give yourself permission to rest without earning it first. And please remember that you do not have to be responsible for another living creature to deserve another morning. You are worth caring for all by yourself.

As for my insurance policy, I believe the coverage is quite comprehensive. It includes companionship, unsolicited kisses, emergency laughter, mandatory outdoor excursions and occasional inspections of Girl Person’s dinner. There is no deductible, although I do charge a small administrative fee in pizza crusts. Claims are processed immediately, and my customer service department is open twenty-four hours a day, except during naps.

I cannot promise Girl Person that tomorrow will be easy. But I can help her get there, one small step at a time, while the people who love her help carry the things that are too heavy for one person or one dog.

And perhaps tonight, instead of worrying about everything that could go wrong tomorrow, she will look at me sleeping beside her and remember that something has already gone very right.

She rescued me. We found each other. And there is still more of our story to live.

Fruitycake

⸻

P.S. From Fruitycake

Friends, we are still waiting for a closing date on the sale of this Italy place. It could happen sooner than we expect. We simply don’t know yet. But it IS moving forward. What we do know is that we are working very hard to keep our rescue projects alive and build a sustainable future for 2 Traveling Dogs when we return to America. We need help now so that the work doesn’t have to stop before we get there. Your support helps with groceries, necessities and the costs of keeping our work going.

Help us with necessities: https://www.tinyurl.com/2tdnecessities

Other ways to help: Venmo @travelingdogs2 or Zelle rachael@2travelingdogs.com.

This Is…Me — Seen, Believed And Rescued. We are looking for five sponsors to help us feature real, verified shelter dogs who need homes. This week!!! These are real animals with real stories, and we want people to know they exist. Sponsorship helps us continue this work, and shelters can submit dogs for consideration at no charge by emailing rachael@2travelingdogs.com.

Sponsor a rescue dog’s story: http://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/Q56YEJJTKXY96

Our 2027 Calendars: We still have a few of our last Italy calendars available, including Under The Crow 2027 and 2 Traveling Dogs 2027 — Portofino, Italy. Every calendar purchased helps support our rescue mission and the transition to our next chapter.

And don’t forget Fruitycake’s Pawcast, our free weekday podcast for dogs, by a dog! We hope you’ll play it for your own dogs and share it with animal shelters. We would also love questions from your dogs for upcoming episodes.

Listen here: https://2travelingdogs.com/feed/podcast/fruitycakes-pawcast/

Thank you for helping us continue, especially during a time when so much of our future is uncertain. You are helping us make tomorrow a little easier, too. And I think that is a rather wonderful thing.

Love, Fruitycake