R – The Spell of Return

The dog who rumbled through our gate and reminded us how to root.

Storytime

May 2020.
The streets of our city still echoed with George Floyd’s name. Everything felt raw, rattled, and unraveling.

Frrrrrank arrived in our lives, and returned again and again, with a rumble and a roll.

We were gathered in our tiny shared yard—Hobbit, Sukha-dog, Jo from downstairs, and our next-door neighbors. Each of us holding space with six feet between us, sipping something boozy, trying to remember how to breathe.

And then, through the alley, came the rumble.

A big black dog.
White chest.
Brown paws.
Ice blue eyes.

Part husky. Part German Shephard. Part Rottweiler. This guy carried a presence.

No tags. No collar. Just confidence.
He strolled through the open gate like he belonged—because he did.
He romped with the neighbor dogs, rolled in the grass, and flopped belly-up in the sun. His whole presence whispered:

“I’m here. I’ve returned.”

It was Saturday. Animal Control was closed. COVID had everything on pause. Jo offered to keep him until Monday when the neighbors could check him for a chip with their vet. He made instant friends with Jo’s cats.

That Monday, we learned he lived just two blocks away. His name was Reaper. His family hadn’t even realized he’d run off. Forty-eight hours—gone—and no one noticed.

Two days later, he returned
Sitting outside our gate.
Smiling.

He knew where he belonged.

Jo and I walked him home again. They thanked us. Said again they hadn’t noticed. Jo asked to adopt him. Offered them $400. “He’s our family,” they said. “We could never replace him.”

Two days later:
He returned.
This time for good.

Jo texted the owners. No response.
She called the chip registry, started the paperwork.
Seven days passed. His owners didn’t claim him.

Jo changed his name to Frank, and we all said it with a rumbling R…Frrrrrank!

He rooted into our lives like he’d always been there.
And with him, something shifted.
Jo and I weren’t just neighbors anymore—we were something more.

We started walking together every day. A few months later, we got Tosha as a 10-week old puppy. Frank taught our puppy Tosha how to walk, how to wait, how to listen.
He growled low when the meth house down the alley got too loud.
He stood watch when strangers approached the gate.
He became our protector, our guardian, our rhythm.

He rumbled, wrestled, rested, returned.

And in that season of rupture and reckoning, Frank reminded us of what it means to stay.

To root.
To reconnect.
To reclaim what’s real.

Frank is still here.
Sprawled on Jo’s couch, radiating love like an underground spring.

He arrived full resonance.

Lesson

The letter R is a return spell.

Its shape curves forward, like a body that remembers movement. It has one rooted leg, one rising arc, and one diagonal reach—pulling something forward from what already exists.

Its sound vibrates in the throat and behind the teeth—rumbling, resonating, reminding.
Say it slowly: rrrrrr.
That’s the vibration of the heart remembering how to land.

R carries the energy of:

• Return – coming back to what matters

• Root – grounding deeply in what’s true

• Resonance – letting your presence echo beyond your body

• Reverence – honoring what cannot be owned

• Rewilding – unlearning what was tamed and remembering what’s natural

R doesn’t rush.
R reverberates.
R rouses.

It is the letter of revolution and restoration.
It holds the pulse of presence.

Like Frrrrrank.
Like all the things that return again and again—not to be claimed, but to claim us.

Homework: Cast an R Spell

This week, speak the spell of return.

🔁 The “Rrrrr” Breath
Place a hand on your chest. Inhale gently.
On your exhale, roll the sound: Rrrrrrrr.
Let it vibrate through your chest, your teeth, your ribs.
Feel it stir something sacred awake.
Repeat as needed, until your spirit remembers itself.

🌳 Choose Your R Word
Pick one R-word to carry with you today. Whisper it into your palms. Write it on a sticky note. Let it guide you back to what’s real.

Here are a few:
— Root
— Remember
— Rise
— Reverence
— Ripple
— Roam
— Reside
— Radiate

Speak it.
Sing it.
Let it become your tether.

Because what’s meant for you will return.
And what returns is worth rooting into.

If you learned something that might change your writing in big or little ways, I’m happy to accept your coffee offering of gratitude.