The email came on the write right day: “Your Story Awaits: Share the Story Only You Can Tell” it said. It was an invitation from The Book Love Foundation to spend time writing in community. What luck! I’ll have no excuse not to write for Slice of Life today, I thought when I read the message. So here’s what happened.

Linda Reif, one of the co-hosts, opened up by inviting us to make two lists: things you worried about as a child and things you worry about now. After some writers shared, we were then tasked with choosing one item on our list to write more about. I chose to write about my worry over my dog Ginger’s stress. It’s a bit messy, but these are the words I was able to put down in about 3-4 minutes.

So what about this worries me? It’s her social-emotional well-being. Does this excitement actually cause Ginger stress? Or is she just a very excited pup?

I’m most worried about this in the car because she scratches at the window and door and barks, desperate to get to the dog on the sidewalk. (Funny enough, when we’re on the highway, she usually lays down in her seat, only getting back up when we reach the off-ramp. Somehow she knows there won’t be any fellow dogs to see speeding down the 710 freeway.)

This seems stressful to me and I’ve proposed that we get her a little carrier that will keep her from looking out on drives. I know this would be safer than her free-wheeling in the vehicle, as well. Because of what I perceive as stress on her part, I also try to limit the time she spends in the car as much as possible. My husband, on the other hand, thinks I’ll be ruining her fun and often asks if we should take her with us on errands so she can have an “adventure”.

This is one of the many things on my list of worries, but one that is more manageable than worrying about our society collapsing.