Jane doing Duolingo

Sketcha day - Day 102/365

Today we went to dog training in the morning as we do. Dear Tucker has many many needs. Being an extremely bright but anxious dog, is not easy for him. The world freaks him out. A lot. But it struck me today that I have never met any person (dog or human or otherwise) who wants to learn and wants to give and be part of the team like Tucker. He's got so much to give. So much so that it spills over everywhere and he has a lot of trouble knowing where to give it. But you know what? Slowly, together we are all making progress. And however hard he finds life, he never stops loving Jane and me and showing up for us. That's the mark of a real friend. So yes. I expect we shall be going to dog training for the rest of his life and that's ok. Better than ok. It's great. And he is worth it.

No idea why I started telling you about that. I was meant to be telling you about the picture.

Well, Jane has been buddying me this evening. Which means she sits in my office with me and helps me focus on the admin jobs and emails I need to do. Having a neuro spicy brain can make these tasks ridiculously intense and hard to complete. It's weird, but having someone sitting with me when I am trying to do lots of bitty stressy jobs is so helpful. With her by my side I got 3 hours of tasks done in an hour. Anyway, towards the end I remembered I hadn't done my drawing for today, so since she was there I asked her to sit for me. I don't usually ask folks to do that. But she was up for it. She sat very still and did her Duolingo lesson. I got her body all wrong but I think I captured the way her face looks when she concentrates. So much of drawing is a step forward and a step back. Over and over. Learning to live with the difficulty and understanding that this is the point & part of progress. It's hard! But I guess I am beginning to understand that difficulty and frustration are not simply going to disappear. If I want to improve I have to make space for them being around.

That's the news.