My name is Clooney

I often see my human sitting at the kitchen table staring a at a little screen while tapping it endlessly and wonder what the heck he’s doing. He really should be paying attention to me, which is why I like to whimper every now and then just to make sure he knows I’m here. I got a little annoyed by the lack of attention today and decided to take a turn at this square piece of electronics to recount an amazing day I recently had.

Let me start with an introduction; my name is Clooney and I just turned 9, that’s the equivalent of 63 years old for you bipeds. I first met Jim in December of 2012 when I was about 6 months old after a long drive up from Georgia. It’s been great living with Jim and the five different roommates we’ve had over the years. They’ve all been really nice to me. It was fun when my Golden cousin Sophie, Uncle Andy, and Aunt Katie moved in the other room for a while, although it got a little crowded in Jim’s bed when Soph fell asleep in there with Jim and I.

Jim has been a pretty good guy to live with. He doesn’t always get up to feed me as early as I would like, I mean come on, who needs to sleep past five in the morning? Doesn’t he know that I’m famished? Despite that, I have to say things are pretty good. I’ve been living in Portsmouth for the last 8 and a half years and love the town. While there are a lot of reasons that I love living in Portsmouth, the kindness of all the people that I cross paths with is certainly near the top of the list! This thought brings to mind a short story I want to relay…

It was one day last week that was rather ordinary. It took me like a solid 3 minutes of moaning and pawing Jim before he finally got up to feed me at 5:05: I mean I was famished! We took our normal walk through Market Square before I went back to bed for my post breakfast siesta. I don’t know where he goes for a little while after he feeds me, but I enjoy both the solitude and having the bed to myself after my morning walk. After Jim left for the day it was a pretty routine day of uninterrupted napping except for when Aunt Sharon came by in the early afternoon and took me out to water the bushes. I was waiting with anticipation when Jim got home at that magical time…Dinner!

And believe me, I am in no way being dramatic, when I say magical! First off, Jim opens a white bin that is always full of RAWZ, which I swear is just as exciting to eat each and every time even after the almost 8 years I’ve been eating it! And then, as if it couldn’t get any better than that, we go for a walk around town and almost everyone we see says, “Hi Clooney!” Some people even say hi to Jim, although not nearly as many or with as much enthusiasm. Sometimes I’m lucky and my good friend, who wears a uniform and brings pieces of paper to the boxes in the lobby each day, happens to be in there when the elevator door opens and he throws me a treat! Well this particular day, the “Mail Man” said, “I’m sorry buddy, all gone”; after reaching in his pocket with his hand coming out empty. It was heartbreaking, but I forced myself to get on with the day.

It was just a day or two later and I was taking Jim home after a walk when a small white truck that, and I apologize for my uncertainty (you’d think after 9 yrs my reading would be better), I think said US Mail on the side pulled over right next to us. I could hardly contain my excitement as my friend “Mail Man” jumped out and yelled, “Hey Clooney, I have one for you today!” And if you can believe this, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and tossed me a treat. I even got a few extra pats, and multiple “Good Boys”! I mean come on, how lucky am I?

I mean talk about a roller coaster of emotion, from feeling as though my good friend was mad at me to absolute ecstasy during a chance encounter one afternoon on Hanover st.!