The Border Collie Chronicles

Observations from (arguably) the World's Smartest Dogs;
(but, without question, the bestest friends!)
or, Life As We Understand It, as told from dad's shop.


Posted July 1, 2015
 
 

Umbrellas

A Guest Article

By Maggie

 

Anyone from Texas should surely have seen that our grand State has seen its share of rain this spring.  Depending on which part of good ole Texas you’re in, you’ve either gotten your fill or Tropical Storm Bill dumped 12 inches on you.

 

Well … all of this rain has gotten me thinking on how to stay protected.  Remember, I don’t really like the rain and all that thunder.   Are you sensing a common theme in all of my thoughts?  Dad says it’s astraphobia, but I have no clue what he’s talking about.  He’s tried to explain that it is a common thing and even my BC kin suffer from it.  I really don’t know about that!

 

Back to my protection from the rain … I was telling Dad that I’ve found the only spot in the garage that I can hide from the rain.  I can fit my head under a cabinet that Dad has in the garage and nobody can see me.  Mommy says she can still see my big butt sticking out, but I’m convinced that if I can’t see the rain, it can’t see me; and that goes for the thunder too.

 

I guess my philosophical discussion on the rain made Dad think a little too.  And if you’re following “our” story, you know that Dad went through a big change recently.  He’s tickled to death following that arrow.  I mention this because it seems that all of our talks lately have been a lot more stimulating.  I think he’s so much more relaxed that he actually comes home in a good mood.  Well, he did it again.  He was able to parallel a talk about the rain to the big change.

 

For Mommy and him, their protection from the rain is an umbrella.  Dad explains that umbrellas have several uses:  they protect you from the rain in bad weather and they protect you from the sun and its harmful rays.  Maybe Dad remembers the “chicken-fry” in the Bahamas!  Either way, he begins preaching that when you’re under the umbrella, you have protection and it’s easy to get comfortable with the protection that it provides.

 

His correlation of the protection and our comfort seemed to make a quick detour to how being comfortable knowing you’re under the umbrella can actually prevent you from stepping from underneath its protection for fear of what could happen.  After all, we might get soaking wet or we might get a sunburn (possibly a 2nd degree burn … ).  I think he was trying to make the point that if you never venture out from under the umbrella, you may never know the joy of dancing in the rain or the mental and emotional benefits to the sun’s warming rays.

 

After constipating[i] on it for a day or two, I think I get it.  Dad had been under the umbrella for so long, that he began to fear that he could not be successful without the protection that came with it.  After all, it provided the safety, security and stability that he had become so used to for all of those years.  I know that Dad finally followed his arrow and I think in doing so he’s found that “Rain is a Good Thing[ii] and that it’s perfectly normal to step out and enjoy the “Sunshine & Whiskey[iii].

 

Happy Whiskey Wednesday folks.  And don’t let your “umbrella” shade your vision of the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editor's Note:  Well said Ms. Maggie!!  You took the words right out of our mouths!!!  As soon as we read the title to this story last Thursday evening, we immediately imagined the directionS that you were taking with your article!!!  Our dad too, stepped out from under the “protection” of the umbrella – and all of us think that was his bestest decision ever!!!  We have no doubt that your dad’s decision will prove to be a great move as well!!!

 

It’s not always easy to peek out from under the comfort (or perceived comfort) of your umbrella (or to pull your head out from under that cabinet in the garage, or to come out from under the drinking table in the shop), and sometimes it is scary as heck …  but as John Wayne says:

 

Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway.

 

And some others have some wise words to share on this topic as well!!!

 

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.

Charles Kingsley

 

Minds, like bodies, will often fall into a pimpled, ill-conditioned state from mere excess of comfort.

Charles Dickens

 

Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse, and even your kids.  Even if it's a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new and make a difference.

Eric Schmidt

 

The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

Confucius

 

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

.

and lastly, one that we find REALLY fitting ...

 

I recall the story that a frog if put in cold water will not bestir itself if that water is heated up slowly and gradually and will in the end let itself be boiled alive, too comfortable with continuity to realize that continuous change at some point may become intolerable and demand a change in behavior.

Charles Handy

 

 

Here’s to a safe and happy fourth to all (remember … no pyrotechnics permitted on our place!!)

 

Best wishes to all!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



[i] See Bubba’s article on Constipation if you need more splainin’.

 

[ii] Rain is a Good Thing.  Song by Luke Bryan on the album “Doin’ My Thing” – 2009.

 

[iii] Sunshine & Whiskey.  Song by Frankie Ballard on the album “Sunshine & Whiskey” – 2014.






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