"How do you live your life....

...when no one is watching?" reads a poster I walk by daily on my way to make copies for my high school Spanish classes.  I know the challenge behind those words is to get us to reflect on our daily actions, but how often do we do that?  Are we more aware of how we pass our days or are we just going through the motions?  Are we satisfied at the end of a day, or are we wishing we had just done a little bit more, a little bit differently...  

24 hours in a day....8 hours to sleep, 8 hours to work, and 8 hours to....How do we spend that third of our day? What if you were not able to do things "independently" 1/3, 2/3 or 24 hours a day?  Tootsie Roll and I are not here to pass judgement, we simply want to pass on an observation of a local shop owner that we have made; an observation that has allowed us to reflect...

Tootsie Roll and I love making our weekly trip to Backyard Birds:

 (http://www.feedbackyardbirds.com/index.html)

And over the years we have become quite fond of Steve - the owner - and his employee!  The shop is close to our hood, but Tootsie Roll and I always allow for extra time when we have to make our weekly trip for bird seed and peanuts because there is always lots to talk about, animals to pet, and interesting things to look at.  It takes us about an hour each week to make our visit and it is an hour really well spent.  

Tootsie and I would like to recognize that the owner and his wife raise Canine Companions for Independence and that volunteering for this organization is an integral part of their lives - one of the ways they spend some of those 8 extra hours each day.  I can only imagine how rewarding it is to raise and train a pup that will then allow a human to live an independent life 24/7:

http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEmG/b.4011029/k.6CF1/Puppy_Raising_Program.htm

To help them with their quest to serve we would like to share an upcoming event that Steve and his wife have helped to organize for Canine Companions for Independence:

http://www.cci-indy.org/

How do Tootsie Roll and I live our lives when no one is watching?  The best we can...I believe that we do the same kinds of things with others watching or not.  How about you?  How do Tootsie Roll and I spend that 1/3 of our lives that we don't spend sleeping and/or working?  Productively most of the time and with good intentions.  That does not mean we cannot do better, do more; and we will be mindful of that as we go about each day.  

If you are looking for a way to do better or do more and are in the central Indiana area, maybe a drive-in movie this coming weekend will do you good!  

If you are a dog lover and want to make a difference in someone's life, maybe volunteering for Canine Companions for Independence is for you!  In the very least, you are now thinking about life...time..., and how you spend it, and that is good enough for me and Tootsie Roll!