From a Distance

The previous owner of my house installed a doggy door on the side wall of the garage so her dogs could go from the fenced-in back yard to the beds she had placed on the floor for them. I thought it was kind of weird to have a doggy door leading into the garage rather than the house, but my three children thought it was awesome. We had Ali back then, a large Dalmatian/Lab mix who liked to be outside when the weather was nice, but our previous house didn't have a fence so she was forced to spend most of her time inside. I remember the first night after we moved to my current house ... Ali was one happy dog as she ran and ran and ran in the fenced-in back yard. Matt used to be quite the builder when he was a teenager, and within the first week, he had built a large pen around the doggy door so that our big dog couldn't roam through the entire garage. We put a bed and water bowl in the pen for her, and old Ali loved it so much that many times when we would open the gate and try to coax her to come in the house, she would stretch out on her bed and refuse to move. Julie never really cared much for the doggy door and the pen, so when I had my house painted a couple of years after Ali passed away, I had the painter remove the little door and cover it with siding. Matt eventually disassembled the pen ... I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one with a tear in my eye that day as memories of a sweet old big black and white dog pounded in our minds and tugged at our hearts.

I have another memory of the doggy door ... a memory of two other visitors who scared me half to death when I discovered they had been helping themselves each night for a couple of weeks to the large container of dog food I kept in the garage. Before I tell you about the fateful night when I met the two surprise guests, I need to back up and fill you in a bit about ... well ... here's what happened. Every morning for two weeks when I went out to feed Ali, the lid to the container that held the dog food was either under my car or tossed to the back of the garage. And ... there was dog food scattered everywhere. And ... there were what appeared to be scratch marks on both the lid and the container. And ... not once did I ever think about another animal coming in through the doggy door ... nope, not once ... I immediately thought it was my son Brad trying to play a joke on me. Every single day, I would chastise Brad for leaving the container open and scattering the dog food everywhere, sternly telling him that it would attract mice and mice would attract snakes and if I every found a snake in the garage, I would simply die right there on the spot. Despite Brad's constant insistence that he wasn't pulling one over on me, I remained solidly convinced that my practical joker son was responsible. I'm sure I still owe him another million or so apologies for that one ... sheesh ... what a terrible mom I was. It took me coming eyeball to eyeball with the real culprits to make me realize that Brad was indeed innocent in the great garage dog food heist. 

It was a cold and rainy evening, and I had asked Brad and Meghann to bring Ali inside before they left for youth group, telling them I would feed her when I got home from work. Pulling into the garage, I glanced at the dog food container and was glad to see that it was tightly closed. After making sure the garage door closed, I headed inside, changed clothes and went back out to get food for Julie ... no, that's not right ... I opened the door from the kitchen to the garage, flipped on the light, saw two gigantic raccoons, backed up and screamed like a little girl as I slammed the door and locked it. Of course I locked the door ... everyone knows that renegade raccoons can open an unlocked door anytime they want ... gosh ... everyone knows that. Poor Ali didn't get dinner that night until Brad and Meghann came home because I was convinced the raccoons were perched on the hood of my car waiting to attack me should I open the door. Needless to say, the ring-tailed objects of my terror were long gone by the time my kiddos got home, but I was still careful to stand guard with baseball bat in hand while Brad made sure the doggy door was sufficiently secured so as to prevent the furry creatures from returning. 

A couple of nights ago when I took Ollie out to potty before we turned in for the night, the minute we stepped outside, the fur on his back stood straight up and he began to growl in a way I've never heard him growl before. Trying to see through the darkness to determine what was frightening my normally fearless wiener dog, I jumped as I saw what was walking along the top rail of the fence near the back of my yard ... yep, you guessed it ... an enormous raccoon ... the granddaddy of all raccoons, that's how big he was. I scooped Ollie into my arms and slammed the door and locked it ... of course I locked it ... and I spent the next hour or so peeking through the blinds in the kitchen to make sure the beast had gone on its way. I've been thinking a lot about my most recent raccoon encounter, and I realized today that there's something I'm meant to learn from the late-night meeting. See, here's the thing ... though I was careful to pick Ollie up and get back inside, I wasn't nearly as terrified as I was the night the raccoons were inside my garage. I wasn't so afraid of the raccoon on the fence because he wasn't in a part of my house ... he wasn't close to me ... he was too far away to hurt me. I wasn't so afraid of the raccoon on the fence because I was seeing him from a distance ... I was seeing him from a distance so I wasn't so afraid.

One of my favorite singers of all time is Bette Midler, and one of her songs has been stuck in my head ever since it dawned on me this afternoon ... the lesson ... the truth ... and I'm going to close with some of the lyrics from the song. Think about it, friends ... it's pretty easy not to be afraid of a raccoon on a faraway fence ... but one in your own garage? That's a whole different story, isn't it? A raccoon in your own garage is a whole different story indeed.

"From a distance 
You look like my friend 
Even though we are at war 
From a distance 
I just cannot comprehend 
What all this fighting is for 
From a distance 
There is harmony 
And it echoes through the land 
And it's the hope of hopes 
It's the love of loves 
It's the heart of every man

God is watching us

God is watching us

God is watching us

From a distance"