Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Are you ready to be very very still and quiet in your bed?
Close your eyes if you want to so that you can shut out the rest of the world and let your body relax even deeper as you listen to the meditation story.
Tucker and Leo had found themselves in a very strange place.
It had been seven days.
Seven days of things not being normal.
There was something very very unusual at hand.
Leo was a little bit too stressed to figure it out.
It was all just a blur,
An absolute nightmare.
And Tucker,
Well,
Tucker was just a bit too simple.
I'll let you know what's been happening.
Today was Tuesday.
Last Monday the dogs woke up.
They woke up quite early.
Their dad got up,
Made a coffee and sat down and started to do his work on his computer.
And they still just laid on the couch.
When mum woke up,
The rest of the house woke up.
Tucker and Leo were waiting really excited at the bottom of the stairs.
Mum always feeds them breakfast.
Morning,
Morning mumma,
Morning.
Tucker was frantically running around in circles,
Shaking from head to tail in pure excitement that it was breakfast time.
It's breakfast time,
It's breakfast time.
Oh yes,
It's breakfast time.
I love breakfast.
I love breakfast.
Leo was shaking his whole body from head to tail like a snake moving from side to side as if to say,
Mama's awake.
Yay,
It's the best time of the day.
Leo had this strange thing that he did when he was super happy when he saw mama.
He actually smiled.
Leo was one of those dogs that could smile,
But he only ever really smiled for Isabel and mama.
No one else got a smile in the family.
He put up with everyone else,
But for mama and Isabel,
Oh he always smiled the biggest,
Sweetest smile when they came home.
And he would close his eyes and his mouth would shape into a smile and it'd shake his bum because he was so happy to see them.
Leo did this every breakfast time.
They followed mama onto the back garden where their bowls were.
She scraped out some dog food and put some in each one of their bowls.
Took her eight his in literally two seconds.
Oh,
That was nice.
Is there any more?
Come on,
Leo,
Leave me a little bit of yours,
Would you?
I always go through my breakfast so fast.
It didn't even touch the sides.
I don't even think I chewed it.
I was so hungry this morning.
I'm so hungry.
Lately mama had been putting chewy bones inside of their rubber toys.
They both had a rubber toy.
One was blue and one was orange and they swapped and changed all the time.
So neither of them kind of claimed the blue one or the orange one.
It was just whoever got who wevers.
Mama decided that if she put a really chewy bone inside of the rubber bone,
It took them a really long time to get to the chewy bone that they could eat.
It was like a treat inside of a rubber bone basically,
And they loved them.
It had become a routine where mom put a chewy bone inside of the rubber bones after breakfast.
So they both just sat and waited because they knew that the chewy bone was coming any moment now.
Tucker said,
She's not paying attention this morning.
She didn't fill his rubber bones.
What's going on with mama?
Mom was busy cleaning the kitchen,
Putting the dishes in the dishwasher.
Then she started to do the floor.
She was sweeping.
Then she started to dust and she was dusting.
And Tucker was beside himself.
There's something horribly wrong.
Mama's not paying attention.
She's not giving us a treat in our bone.
This was last Monday.
The day went all day long where mama didn't put the treat in the rubber bone.
Then Tuesday morning came.
The dad got up,
Came downstairs,
Made his breakfast,
Made his coffee,
Sat down and started to work on his computer.
Mama got up.
Oh,
She's up.
She's up.
She's up.
Yay,
She's up.
Today will be the day where we get to our rubber bone.
Yay.
Something must have been terribly wrong with mama yesterday because she just didn't do it all day long.
The dogs did their normal thing.
They shook all over the place.
Leo did his big happy smile.
Mama said,
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning,
Doggies.
The doggies got super excited.
Oh,
She's giving us breakfast.
It's breakfast,
Breakfast,
Breakfast,
Breakfast,
Breakfast,
Breakfast,
Breakfast,
Breakfast,
Breakfast,
Breakfast time.
Tucker was singing.
I love my breakfast.
Breakfast is the bestest time of day.
They went out onto the back garden.
Mama scraped out some dog food and then came inside of the kitchen.
Both Leo and Tucker sat staring very patiently at mama in the kitchen,
Giving her the message that it was rubber bone time.
Mama started doing the dishes and then she was wiping the sides down and then she was sweeping the floor and then she was dusting again.
Tucker looked at Leo and said,
I don't know what's going on.
Something horrible is happening to mama.
She's forgot about our rubber bones,
Leo.
This is awful.
This is like that dog day.
What's that dog day?
Ground dog day.
That's it.
This is like ground dog day,
Leo.
She did it again.
All day long,
They waited for the rubber bones and mama didn't give it to them.
Wednesday came exactly the same.
Thursday came exactly the same.
She came inside.
She washed the dishes.
She swept the floor.
She dusted the sides.
Same,
Same,
Same over and over until it was Tuesday of the next week.
It had been groundhog day for Leo and Tucker a whole seven days.
Today was the eighth day.
Mama came downstairs for breakfast.
Mama's here for breakfast.
Mama's here for breakfast.
I love my breakfast.
Good morning,
Mama.
Morning.
Tucker was spinning in circles,
So happy to see his mama.
It was breakfast time.
The best meal of the day.
Leo had his big,
Happy,
Closed-eye smile.
He waddled his tail.
I do like my mama.
She's so nice and she smells nice and she strokes me in all the right places.
She's so calm and peaceful.
She's like lavender.
Mama is like lavender,
Leo said.
Tucker said,
Mama's everything good in the world.
She's like sugar and spice and all things nice.
That's what mama is.
Mama cooks the best.
Mama loves the best.
Mama is the bestest,
Bestest,
Bestest.
I don't know what's going on with her lately,
Though,
Leo.
I'm really worried.
It's been like eight days today that she's forgot her rubber bones.
This groundhog day thing is absolutely awful.
I want to cry.
I keep looking at Papa and I'm like,
Dad,
Dad,
Dad,
Rubber bone.
I even rolled the rubber bone in front of Papa's legs.
I one day dropped the rubber bone on Papa's feet.
Did he get the message?
No,
He just carries on looking at his videos,
Carries on watching the YouTube,
Carries on doing what he needs to do for work on his computer.
It's like he never even sees me and I'm like,
I'm here.
Hello.
Is anybody there inside of your mind,
Papa?
But no,
No,
He doesn't.
And I'm like,
It's groundhog day,
Papa.
Papa,
There's something wrong with mama.
There's something terribly wrong with her.
Can you please wake mama up because she hasn't given us a rubber bone all week long?
Does he do anything?
Nope,
He doesn't.
Leo said,
I know.
It's absolutely useless.
I sat next to him.
I've dropped it on his lap.
I've stared at him with my bestest puppy dog eyes,
The ones where you could cry like,
Oh,
Leo,
What's wrong?
Shall I get you a treat?
Nothing with him.
Absolutely nothing.
I know what today,
Leo.
Today we try and figure out what's going on with mama.
Maybe she's sad inside.
Maybe she's like,
Maybe she's lonely.
Maybe she just needs lots and lots of hugs and kisses today.
Maybe we should try that.
Let's see what happens after breakfast.
Mom came inside.
She started to do the dishes and then she wiped the sides down.
And then,
Oh no,
Unfortunately,
She picked up the broom and started to sweep the floor It was horrible.
She was going to do it again.
She was going to forget the treat inside of the rubber bones again.
She took ages to do all of her cleaning.
And then she came in the room to sit down to drink her chai tea.
This is it,
Leo.
This is our chance.
Let's team up.
Let's jump on her and let's both pass her our rubber bones at the same time.
Mummy will never not know that that's what we want because Mummy's so clever and intuitive and smart.
The dogs both jumped onto the sofa and dropped their rubber bones in sync at the same time.
They couldn't have timed it better.
On mama's lap.
Mama paused and looked down and saw the rubber bones.
Oh my goodness me.
Guys,
I have totally forgot that this was your treat and that's what we'd started to do with our routine.
I am so sorry,
My loves.
Let's go get you a treat.
She stood up and the dogs bounced,
Took a run around in circles.
She understood.
She got it.
She got it.
Yay.
By golly,
She got it.
Yay.
Leo was so happy.
Oh,
Wow.
At last.
Mum's back.
He said.
She pushed two dog treats into the rubber bone and passed one to Leo and one to Tucker.
They very,
Very,
Very,
Very,
Very,
Very happily ran into the living room.
Leo jumped into his spot on the sofa and started to chew and make funny sounds as his teeth rubbed along the rubber.
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Trying to get the dog treats out of the middle of the bone.
Tucker went and laid on his rug.
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak,
Squeak.
Tucker's jaws were like a shark.
It didn't take him very long at all before he got to his treats inside of the rubber bone.
He somehow squished it and then like bent it to the side to get the treats out.
He was very smart like that.
Normally,
Tucker's not very smart.
He's very,
Very simple.
But when it comes to dog treats inside of a rubber bone,
He's smart.
Leo was much more gentle with his bone and it took him a lot,
Lot longer.
And if he didn't pay attention all day,
Tucker would pinch his bone and get the treats out quickly.
That night,
They laid on the big dog bed and said to each other at the same time,
Thank goodness Ground Dog Day finished.
I really didn't like Ground Dog Day.
It was the most awful,
Repetitive over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again day.
And it wasn't a nice day.
It was awful,
Leo,
Wasn't it?
Leo tried to say the same thing,
But obviously Tucker went on a little bit longer.
But basically they both said,
Thank goodness Ground Dog Day was finished.
Hopefully never to be back.
Hopefully Mummy would stay Mummy and just remember them every single morning because it was a routine.
And routine means you keep doing it repetitively over and over and over.
The end.
