Thank God Seventh Month is Over

I stared at this sleeping dog and rolled my eyes. All through the lunar Seventh Month (August 19 to September 16, 2020), this is the same dog that slept deeply when we're awake, but when we're asleep in the nights, she couldn't rest for those eight hours, as she used to do before this month. 

The poor girl dug and whistled, panted and trembled every other night, regardless of whether there's a thunderstorm or heavy rains without thunder. She couldn't sleep as deeply as she normally does regardless of how much exercise she got, and no matter what I do to try to tire her out. (Because, science.) She wasn't quite herself in the day either. Damn annoying that there were so many spectacular thunderstorms during this month. It also coincided with typhoon season in the region. She probably felt the barometric pressure drop all the time. 

Visiting restaurants is a slightly different matter. Those panic attacks started in the first week of July, way before the lunar Seventh Month began. She was only calm at restaurants that have their al fresco area entirely open. (Think FOC Sentosa and HandleBar.) She was undecided about NUDE Seafood. Haha. We thought that it was highly likely to be a direct result of the lockdown and Phase 1 when no restaurants were visited. Two months would be be enough to familiarize her with the lockdown routine. It was all nice and quiet, and heading back to dine at restaurants might be too jarring for her. However, come September 15 and 16, when we took her out to dinner, she was visibly calmer. After she checked out her surroundings, she promptly laid down to snooze. By the Rosh Hashanah, she was calmer when we returned to the slightly more sheltered venues. Over the weekend and the new week, she was back to being almost 100% calm at restaurants and enclosed spaces, even at O’maJ, which caused her the worst panicked panting and shivers.

If the cultural beliefs of the lunar Seventh Month are supposed to be taken seriously, then she should be seeing ghouls even in the day. Unless she sees many more in the nights, and the shadows cast by everything else don't assuage her fears. On two separate nights over the month, she anxiety-pooped because she couldn't hold it in anymore. No thunderstorm anywhere near this island on those nights either. (I keep a poop diary so that I could keep tabs on the frequency of the really bad ones.) Needless to say, we had very little sleep for the past 30 days.

Miraculously, right on cue, she wasn't perturbed anymore on the night of September 16, after 2359hrs. Over the weekend, she slept deeply. (She did panic from the pre-dawn rains but quickly quietened down when there was no thunder. Whew!) She was this exact same way last year during Seventh Month. WTF. The only stretch she slept deeply this year coincided with me drawing the sign of a cross over our doors and windows with holy water. What am I supposed to think? Next year how? 

Always be my sunshine girl, Choya. Don’t give in to fear, remember the light and love, don’t let darkness consume you.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.