Roger bennett vanessa kroll12/27/2023 When they got annoyed with their family members, they could find a sympathetic ear in Bimbo. When they felt stressed or anxious about the unpredictable world around them, caring for Bimbo helped reduce those hard feelings. When loneliness crept into their hearts during isolation, they had an eager candidate to keep them company. Without being able to care for their friends, they could shower that love on Bimbo’s white, furry head. Shut off from the rest of the world, unable to have physical contact with others, Bimbo became the obvious and happy recipient of my children’s affection. Which begs the question: what was the source of our collective redemption? What had allowed us to love and care for an animal during pandemic whom we had summarily rejected during ordinary times? What was it about our new pandemic perspective that had opened the door for us to radically change our view on Bimbo? The first and most obvious answer lies in the need children and teenagers’ have to find a place for their affection, particularly while in quarantine, making a dog a perfect option. It wasn’t Bimbo, but our family, who had experienced some kind of redemption during the pandemic. What the hell had happened? How had our unfeeling rejection of Bimbo turned to utter adoration? Who had changed - us or her? At first glance, I might say that Bimbo had been redeemed as she went from reviled to beloved during our time in lockdown, but in our final days staying at my parents’ house, my mother said to us, “You know, Bimbo is the same dog she has always been.” So if Bimbo was the same, then we must be the ones who had changed. Yes, the very same daughter who all those years ago needed to be carried from the car into the house in order to avoid Bimbo. In our final weeks at my parent’s house, the relationship had progressed to such an extent that Bimbo refused to sleep in the mudroom where she had slept for the 10 years prior, barking and scratching at the back door until she was allowed to sleep upstairs in my daughter’s room. She became a constant companion to my youngest son’s early morning TV watching and my oldest son’s late night Xbox gaming, a fixture during family card games and chess matches, moving from person to person for her pats. My children, who had previously rejected her, now competed over who would get to cuddle with “Bimby” and have her sit on their laps. My husband who, truth be told was the originator of the “Rat Dog” moniker, patiently let Bimbo in and out of the side door by his desk all day long, petting her as she moved past him. Bimbo’s nickname went from the disparaging “Rat Dog” to the adoring “Bimby” - used by ALL members of my family in a sing-song voice dripping with affection. In lockdown my children suddenly became obsessed with Bimbo, petting her, carrying her around the house, lovingly putting her to bed each night. Do you remember in high school when you had two friends who couldn’t stand each other and then one day they showed up at school, totally in love, all over each other and attached at the hip? That’s kind of what happened with Bimbo. Suffice it to say, life took a turn toward the unexpected as it related to Bimbo. Early on, we venomously gave Bimbo the nickname of “Rat Dog” due to her rodent-like looks and our deep dislike of her.įast forward 10 years, when we found refuge in my parents’ house during COVID, beginning our journey of living with them AND Bimbo for 4.5 months. To cap it off, in those early years, my daughter was mortally afraid of dogs and Bimbo’s lack of boundaries (particularly with feet) terrified her, requiring us to carry my daughter from our car into the house when we visited my parents. And what she lacked in beauty, she matched in irritating behavior, best represented by her annoying habit of nipping and licking at everyone’s feet while they walked. I am the first to admit that partially we were being superficial and judgmental because let’s just say, Bimbo wouldn’t win the Westminster Dog Show Award for Best in Breed. It was not love at first sight for my family and Bimbo. Ten years ago, when my youngest child was an infant, my mother got a puppy: a bichon frisé named Bimbo.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |