By Esther C. Baird
First published in the Tri Town Transcript, Oct 31, 2019
We recently spent a family weekend in Stowe, Vermont, in a house that allowed dogs. I scanned the rental agreement looking for any fine print about vast quantities of fur but found none. So Blue Ears and Moose, our two Bernese Mountain Dogs, came with us on their first formal vacation.
We had to teach them about vacation mode, about how to let go of their every day anxieties and to put aside the things that stressed them out.
As they entered the rental home, Blue immediately let go of his anxieties about entering bedrooms, (they’re off limits at home, I’ll refer you to the aforementioned fur situation). He bolted into each one, checking out the beds and trashcans as he went, and embracing his vacation mode.
Moose, for his part, put aside his stress over being an obedience-challenged-dog and ripped around the first floor in a blur and then flew up the stairs. Stairs! He rarely saw the upstairs of a house! Vacation mode, activated.
I quickly switched into vacation mode as well. For starters the road from our rental house was paved. Not something I take for granted during the Route 1 space launch project. I never knew how high a car could fly until they ripped up the road leaving only “bumps” behind. The “bumps” are like brick walls scattered about that both slam us, and then catapult our cars up like an autumnal Santa and his sleigh.
I’m not sure life is supposed to feel that harrowing just driving to Costco. But never mind, we were teaching the boys how to slow down and enjoy life. Perhaps something I needed to try on Route 1.
We hit our stride the next day when we went on a five-mile walk around Stowe. The foliage was at its peak, the weather was warm and the trail was lovely and long.
The boys were excited to walk some place that wasn’t the Lockwood Lane Dog Park. Remember when that was a road? It’s been almost a year since the bridge closed, and the latest news says it will be almost another year before it’s fixed. It’s a little post-apocalyptic down there these days, with the barricades that have been vandalized and the lights that are routinely stolen. And while I know the police are patrolling it, nothing will fix the fact that GPS doesn’t recognize the closure, well.. except fixing the bridge.
Hey, but the dogs love it. The closure is just part of their normal routine. But vacation mode was about letting go of routines and Blue and Moose were focused on our Stowe walk. We went past a meadow and up to a corn field maze. Off the path was a ticket-booth and a little barnyard exhibit housing some baby goats and two calves.
Baby animals?! Moose surged forward. Trying new things was part of vacation right? So what if it was a detour?
I had recently been trying new things at home, but they were only making me late. It seems broken bridges are contagious. Just as I got used to my new route without Lockwood Lane, a bridge in Ipswich broke too. The bridge is on Waldingfield Road which connected me to 1A where our church, that I work at, is located. However, Ipswich has a different approach to their broken bridges. They fix them. Waldingfield is closed for the next two months, but come late November, (of this year, not two years hence) it will be reopened.
In the mean time, the detour takes me through downtown Ipswich, which is a lot like driving through a Gilmore Girl’s episode. Only my day hasn’t, as of yet, ended with a musical montage.
Our detour to the baby animals was more exciting than my real life detours. In almost no time flat, Moose had his nose up against the cow fence. While one little calf stayed back, the red calf came trotting over.
Moose! Baby Cow! They nuzzled noses and licked each other’s ears and generally couldn’t get enough. It was quite clear that they were long lost, very best friends. This giant explosion of a dog, who is almost always in trouble, was calm and happy. Why wouldn’t he be? He was with his best friend, Cow. For Moose, choosing to detour meant finding pure joy.
We completed our walk and the boys were thrilled. Everything had been exciting and wonderful. And when we returned home to Boxford, we had perhaps a slightly heightened ability to face the closures and detours of the North Shore, and life, with a little more vacation mode mentality.
Cue the closing montage.