Moving Up

My high school was a lovely old building that had at one time been a military academy. The campus was special with a creek running through it and covered bridges spanning the creek.


The auditorium was large with floor to ceiling windows covered with heavy velvet drapes. The floor slanted down toward a raised stage in the front. The seats were velveteen theater type seats arranged in a wide center section, smaller side sections and a balcony.

On the first day of school each year everyone came to the auditorium and the Principal gave the history of the school. Then the bell in the bell tower was rung. I believe it was the only time of the year the bell rang. We would all sing our school song, then start classes.

When we all gathered in the auditorium, seniors sat in the front of the center section, juniors were in the front of the side sections. Sophomores sat in the back of the center section behind the seniors and freshmen sat in the balcony.

There was a day toward the end of the school year that was called 'Moving Up Day'. Toward the end of classes, everyone would assemble in the auditorium. There were some short speeches and some recognition for seniors that had special accomplishments. Then the seniors would file onto the stage.

The juniors would then move into the seats in the front of the center section vacated by the seniors. The sophomores would move into the junior seats, the freshmen would come downstairs into the seats reserved for sophomores and the eighth graders who had been waiting outside in the hall would enter the balcony and take their seats.

Moving Up Day made everyone feel good.


Fudge

Last week we had a Moving Up Day of sorts here at home. The puppies always sleep in their crates at night, two to a crate. Lola and Bailey sleep together. Tess and Norma Jean are roommates and Noah and Sky until recently shared a crate at bedtime. About a month ago, we moved Sky into a private crate in the office. We did it more for noise control than any other reason. He and Noah together would get into barking matches while we tried to sleep.

The older dogs sleep in our bedroom. Samba sleeps either on the bed at my feet or if she gets too hot, she stretches out on the tile in the bathroom.

Samba

Morgan sometimes sleeps on the bed. She also has a wicker basket with a thick pillow. She likes to curl up in her basket, but I must warn everyone, never give a wicker basket to a dog with obsessive compulsive disorder. When she changes position during the night, she turns around about 200 times before settling down again. The wicker squeaks and groans with every turn. No one can sleep through that noise. Even Robert who sleeps through everything wakes up at the constant sound of that wicker squeaking. We usually end up calling her onto the bed with us.

Monty sometimes sleeps in the chair, but he usually stretches out on the floor at the foot of the bed on one of his dog beds. Tsar sleeps on the sofa, but he gets hot and sometimes prefers to sleep in the hall near the front door. The tile is much cooler for him.

Tsar

Fudge has his house. He runs inside when we first enter the room. Then he gets on the bed for awhile, but he winds up back in his house.

Fudge

Lucy had a little fabric basket with a cushion that she slept in for years. The main reason we didn't allow the pups in the bedroom was because Lucy was so fragile. She only weighed 11 pounds and she was unsteady on her feet because of arthritis. We were afraid that one of them would knock her over or step on her.

Last Tuesday we invited Sky to move up into the bedroom with us. He was happy to be with the big dogs, but he didn't know exactly where he belonged. He roamed around for a couple hours, then I got up and found him a dog blanket. I put it on the floor next to my side of the bed. He curled up on it and slept through the night.

In the morning he started dragging his blanket out of the room with him. I took it and tossed it on the floor. When Rob got up he picked up the blanket and not knowing whose it was, threw it on Lucy's little basket.

When we went to bed that night Sky saw his blanket on Lucy's bed, so he squeezed his 60 pound body into Lucy's basket designed for a twelve pound dog and slept there all night. He has slept in that basket all week. This weekend we will find Sky a basket that fits.