In any case, we never run out of vitamins.
Something strange happened recently, however, in our vitamin cabinet. The label on the bottle changed. It's the same brand and still a daily vitamin, but a different product.
Now it says "Silver" or something to that effect. And if you read the fine print at the top of the the label it says (gasp!) the following:
"Specially formulated for adults 50+"
Fifty plus? That may be well and good for you old folks on the AARP roster (which includes DH, who is 51), but I'm only 47!
Unlike some people, I haven't hit the golden milestone yet.
So why is DH supplying me with old people pills?
Isn't that rushing it? I mean, come on, give me the 2.5 years I have left to razz you 50+-ers about being old (despite the fact that I'm more gray than many of you already).
"Silver" vitamins? Geesh.
"And just what does this have to do with Labs?" you ask.
Our sweet Pinot girl is a whopping 5.5 months old now--still a pup by any stretch of the imagination. But she's so sweet and so low key and so gentle (with people at least), it's easy to forget she's barely out of toddler-hood.
And because she's so calm (and because she's so much older looking now), we sometimes expect more from her than is reasonable or than she's able to give. We sometimes treat her like a little (in stature) grown-up. We occasionally assume she'll focus and pay attention the way the bigger dogs do. Or that she won't break concentration like mature Labs three times her age.
But she's just a puppy.
The fact that she can only focus well for 15 minutes, if that, has nothing to do with poor development or willful disobedience; it has everything to do with the fact that she's a puppy.
She's a young pup at that, just five-and-a-half-months-old. It will be at least a year before she moves out of puppydom, maybe more (Labs can take a good two years to mature).
But because Pinot is so sweet and low-key, and because she's seemingly so mature and intelligent for her age, we find ourselves unfairly rushing her development.
Not on purpose, mind you. We just forget.
Just like DH forgets that I'm four years younger and that I can still take regular (not-for-SILVER-folks) vitamins. ;o)
But taking "silver" vitimins can't and won' t hurt me.
Demanding too much too soon from Pinot, though, could hurt her spirit in the long run, and it will only frustrate us.
That's the same thing that happened when we treated our kids like little adults instead of the children they were (forgive us, Kiddos, for all those times we did that to you; we were learning how to be parents every bit as much as you were learning to be children).
In the grand scheme of things, there has to be time and grace for childhood to be childhood and puppydom to be puppydom.
And there has to be time and grace for 40-somethings to stay 40-something, instead of jumping into that "silver" thing.
Let's not rush it; rather, let's enjoy each stage while it lasts.
Besides, God-willing, there'll be plenty of time for that other stuff later.
:o)
'Til next time,
Joan
