is Comet a Trekkie?

Anyone who was an obsessive fan of StarTrek television and movies, may recall that Spock, a Vulcan, used a mind-fusing thing with a few different species to get “in their heads”. One I recall was not even a carbon-based life form.

Over the last couple of nights, I believe Comet, my black greyhound-shepherd mix dog, may be doing this for a specific purpose. Where normally he lays on a dog bed in the other room, he has been laying on the floor right beside me. I hear the clicking of his toenails pacing around. And in the morning, my thoughts run first to how he is feeling. I have been dreaming oddly about open fields, walking with the dogs, and at other times, I am searching a cavernous COSTCO filling a cart with cartons of dog biscuits. I have described Comet and Dexter at length in this blog, and how well-cared they are. But there’s something else whenever he rests his paw in my lap, or head on my elbow – both times occurring when I am at the computer to blog. I feel compulsively guilty and seem to always decide a walk is just the thing to cure both of us.

It is possible that Comet has gotten inside my head. But it is equally possible that I have been prewired for guilt from my upbringing. If you have seen the Indian comedienne Sindhu Vee describe her (or Indian cultural) parenting on YouTube, you might get some idea. Perhaps the Irish shared some of those traits? I do recall early childhood episodes with my then-single immigrant mother, where I failed her somehow, that seemed to inspire a parental “guilt trip”. Comet could just be playing into all that.

It could just as easily just all be in my head. Damn you, Spock!