Kashi's least favorite activity is taking a bath. All I have to do to strike fear in his heart and send him to trembling and whimpering is to ask him if he wants a bath. It is a question that I find myself blurting out when I am particularly frustrated with his behavior. Today, however, I had put off the inevitable long enough. He needed a bath.

I think what frightened me about the whole thing is that he seem to wilt under the weight of the water on his coat. He usually howls and sets up a wail that would earn him an Oscar. This time, he simply trembled and ended up just sitting in the water. By the time the whole ordeal was over, my face was wet with more than the water he shook off his coat as I dried him off with a couple of towels.

Afterward, he took a nap on the rug in front of the green chair. He slept in a patch of sunlight that poured through the window on the front door. When we visited my mother years ago, he spent much of his days moving from one patch of sunlight to another as he napped throughout the day. Today, I was reminded of the smile that filled my face each time he moved as I watched him rest from his ordeal. He has brought me such joy over the years. 'Tis a pity I must traumatize him every now and then by dowsing him with soap and water.

I need to replace my front door and was going to not get one with a window for security...but how could I deny my puppydog his sunlight?