Fenced Spaces

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Space.
White space.
Dark space.
Positive space.
Negative space.
Outer space.
Inner space.

So often, as I shut the door saying goodbye to the four-legged critter who looks at me with loving eyes, I wonder, "What do you think about; how do you feel; what do you do all day long, alone, awaiting your human companion to arrive home?"

I then think about the size of a dog or cat or lizard or bird brain. I imagine their brains are not as complex as us humans. Still, I think, animals feel emotions. I'm sure they do. Yet emotions may be more connected with the brain in the heart than the brain in the head.

Often, as I've closed the door and walked away, I've thought of how much animals sleep. Human babies sleep a lot, one reason being because they are growing at an enormous rate. All that growth needs rest. It's work.

An adult dog isn't still growing, yet it still sleeps often. I imagine alone in their space at home throughout the day, a dog sleeps a lot. They sleep a lot when their human companions are home too. I wonder why? Does a smaller brain need more rest?

This week, I sang and danced with little people; that is toddlers. I only teach preschool music on a substitute basis now. I go in for a couple hours to a daycare and the toddler classes come to the room where I am set up to explore music with them. Together we sing and dance and discover the magic of music and ourselves.

Yesterday, during one of my classes, the daycare center performed a fire drill. We all had to hurry outside to the playground. The toddlers were told by their daycare teachers (all of whom are awesome folks) to face the chain link fence. I decided to join the toddlers in facing the fence. It was a strange feeling, holding the fence by lacing my fingers through the wires like the toddlers were doing, looking through the chain links focusing beyond the steel wires to a field and a garden that lay outside the fenced playground of the daycare.

I thought of the lyrics to the cowboy song, "Don't Fence Me In."

I know the fence is there for safety.
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After posting this blog piece, I ran across the following video.
May you sing like no one is listening
I wonder what that dog does when home alone. ;)
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