Bring back my pack!

Interpretation by Jacqueline West

I’ve recently read that coyotes howl as a way to call the pack back together after a time of separation. It’s a way to positively communicate a coming together. Lucky them — they get to run toward each other, huddle up, and nuzzle noses. Lucky me — I get to do that with my beloved, but hey, we are probably all getting a little anxious to get out of our caves and nuzzle with other members of our pack too.

I live in the woods so I have the great privilege of being able to walk outside, stretch and breathe and maintain acres of social distance. But I’ve been thinking a lot about people who live in cities or villages or towns where “Stay at Home” literally means keep yourself inside and shut the door.

As spring takes hold across the country and people in apartments and closely placed houses feel like they are ready to burst I am proposing the following: Call your pack back together. Choose a time (preferably some starry night), open your windows and HOOOOOOWL!!!! (Those of us in the countryside could consider doing a Zoom howl.)

We may not be able to run toward one another and nuzzle noses just yet, but howling is a sign that someday we will. It’s a kind of symbolic promise. And it’s cathartic. I mean, have you ever tried it? Ohhhhh, it feels good.

So…who’s in? AWROOOOOOO!!!!