Expiration Dates

First, I heard a lot of noise and then I got hammered with a lot of smells all at one time. I followed my ears and nose to the source: the kitchen. Jet, my foster mom was pitching all sorts of things out of the refrigerator into the trash. It was a bit confusing.

She would read something on the container and then either put the item back or throw it in the trashcan. She was interrupted by a phone call. While yakking, I heard her tell the person on the phone what she was doing.

Apparently, food dies at a certain age according to something called an expiration date. Once it dies, you can’t eat it. (Although I’m sure Nokona, who will ingest anything, would be glad to eat what Jet thinks should be thrown away.)

I asked Jet if food was the only thing that expired because of a date. She looked me straight in my puppy dog eyes and said that many things have an end date. Jet says one of the most important things with an expiration date is the time humans have to fulfill their calling.

Here’s what I understand from the entire episode. Humans are born to do something special. It’s their calling. They may choose not to do it or be too afraid to pursue it. If they don’t fulfill their calling, they feel… regret. Humans, unlike dogs, think they have all the time in the world to do what they are meant to do. They don’t. This is why dogs make every moment a great moment.

So here’s the lesson of the day: everything has an expiration date, says Jet. (- Except for roaches, which appear to outlive anything.) There’s a die date on your calling, when you can’t go back and fulfill it, contribute to it, or own it. My advice: open the refrigerator and dump the dangerous dead food but don’t forget to check the expiration date on the important milestones in your life. How much time do you have left to use what you have?

Okay, here’s the question of the day from Micah who asked: I like the plastic bottles my dad buys. They hold water. (This doesn’t make much sense because water is right in front of him. (It comes out of the long pipe over the sink.) Anyway, after he drinks the water out of the bottle, he pitches it to me with a treat inside. After awhile, I work the treat out. Try it. It’s super fun. Or, it was. He put a funny metal thing on his faucet and now he drinks ‘special water’ right out of the pipe instead of buying plastic bottles.

Poop!

Dear Micah:

Yea for your dad! He’s practicing earth love. Let me explain. Plastic doesn’t have much of an expiration date. It seems to live FOREVER (like cock-roaches) so when it is thrown away, it stacks up to make a big, messy pile on earth. Your dad has a water filter to make special water out of his sink so no more bottles. Jump in his lap and give him lots of praise with a bunch of licks on the face and find something else to play with that won’t hurt earth.


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