Jumping the Gun

When I was in High School, back in the 70’s, I participated in track as a distance runner. I was an average runner, but as a participant I considered myself a dedicated athlete and a strong team builder. It was my job, within the ranks of the Forrest Gumps, to keep our long and arduous runs exciting and fun, or so I thought. When we trained I always did something to make our time go faster. When we competed, I rarely finished first, but I was always there for the team to run any event that needed a warm slow body. I always gathered our group together for pre and post cheers to strengthen our team of runners and get them pumped up. Many times I did things that helped to break the ice, the nervousness, the tension when we were competing.

The one thing I remember doing that I wish I had learned a better lesson from was “jumping the gun.” It was in my junior year, one of the first track meets of the season, that I thought I could break the tension for my fellow teammates by purposely jumping the starting gun prior to our two mile race. Throughout the day our team of distance runners had been watching the sprinters line up, get into their boxes, and shoot out of the starting blocks at the sound of the gun. Sometimes their anticipation of the starter’s gun caused them to jump prior to the actual firing of the pistol and they had to reset and restart the race. Each time this happened, our pack of distance runners joked about the false start and how it never happens in our event.

When our race came around, I crowded to the front of the starting line, and just before the gun, I sprinted out, arms a pumping, causing the starter to fire two quick shots from his gun. I eased up and turned to the group and smiled. I though how funny I was, distance runners don’t jump the gun! The starter saw what I had done and knew immediately that it was intentional. He took me aside and in a firm way explained all the possible outcomes of my joke and expressed his concern about what could have happened. I was crushed. The starter was a coach that I had known for several years, who had worked with me as a runner and was a real mentor to me. The race was the worst one of my high school running career. I jumped the gun both literally and figuratively;s a life lesson we hope to learn from.

Here I am at 54 and I still haven’t learned the “Jump the Gun” lesson. I have learned to not jump the gun to be humorous, but sometimes I jump the gun when it comes to announcements dealing with our family and personal lives. I guess I get too excited and I want everyone to share in my excitement.

After a week of personal searching and trying to rationalize about how to make our new family work, Linda and I have had to make the hard and tearful decision to return Rio to the Golden Retriever Rescue people. It is just not the right time to be adding the second dog to the mix. As I write this I get choked up and tears fill my eyes. Rio is a great dog! He has great potential to be a loving companion to someone who can take time and work with him to dispel the fears that are imbedded from his previous life.

Over the course of the week we could not get Kobi and Rio to stop their quest to become the Alfa dog of the family. Every time we let them our side together it was nothing but a brawl, they never broke skin or caused damage to each other, but they tore up the backyard and got themselves completely covered with mud. When we separated the two, both would bark and howl to the point that our neighbors actually called us to let us know this was happening.

The two most important criteria Linda and I set down for having a second dog were, it cannot bark and it has to get along with Kobi. I have to admit that Kobi was probably the instigator of most of the problems, but he is our dog and our first priority. Like I said, I wish we could have gotten Rio during the summer when we could work closely with him and Kobi. It wasn’t in the cards, and we couldn’t make it work.

Both Linda and I are heartbroken. We hope that our inviting Rio into the family hasn’t harmed Kobi and set his training back. We hope that Rio finds a great home; he is perfect for a couple who will care for him and work with him to get over some of his past fears. It has been a hard week and a very hard day. We talked last night and this morning about our reasons for wanting this dog. We came to the realization that because Rio reminded us of Baka, we thought that maybe he could be Sebaka. After talking we know that this could not be. The last post on our blog came about because I was hoping deep down inside that Rio would fill the Baka voids that we have not let Kobi fill due to his youth. I again jumped the gun.