Waiting

Bullet Williams-Deaton was escorted home last night sometime after 9pm. About an hour later, he had released himself from his porch and returned to scratch on our back door. Knowing that he needed to sleep at his own house, dad told him to go back to the porch, pulled down the blinds, and went to bed. About an hour later, I decided to peek outside to see if Bullet had actually listened. He hadn’t. He was still at the door. Standing.

Feeling bad for him, I let him in and told him that I would sleep with him until my dad woke up and took my spot on the couch.

Living into his namesake, Bullet bulleted into the house, picked up his happy toy, and ran straight to the closed bedroom door. He put down his toy and stood at the door wagging his tail, tilting his head side to side, crying, because my dad was in the bedroom without him.

Feeling bad for him, I let him into the bedroom and told him to lie on the floor beside dad’s bed--on his confiscated NC State pillow.

Being the singled-minded dog that he is, though, he began squeaking his toy in his “I am in Daddy Deaton’s presence and therefore ecstatic" manner. Realizing that this wasn’t good for a trying-to-sleep dad, I stole Bullet’s toy and threw it into the den. After playing with him for a few minutes, I convinced him to hop onto the couch with me, but his little fat body remained very tense and his head remained aimed at the bedroom door.

Feeling bad for him, I stopped trying to convince him that he could remain on the couch and receive all the love he desired and instead released him to leap down.

He picked up his toy, ran straight to the closed bedroom door, put down his toy, wagged his tail, stood at the door tilting his head side to side, cried, and waited. He stood there for well over 15 minutes, sniffing and bending his head to listen to my now-woken-up dad talk. He waited. And waited. And waited.

Feeling bad for him, I let him into the bedroom again. This time my dad got out of bed and moved to the couch to sit with Bullet. By the time I went upstairs, Bullet was happily licking my dad’s hand, warmly snuggled up next to the love of his little doggy life.

Bullet’s waiting paid off.

Today, as I watched the noon news, I heard two different reports of the same breaking news story. One station reported one thing. Another station reported another. Neither station waited longer than a few minutes, if even that long, before reporting their information. Both stations were wrong.

Both stations should have waited.

Almost always, except in cases of emergency, waiting pays off.

What are you waiting for today?