The
Journey
When
you bring a pet into your life, you begin a
journey - a journey that will bring you
more love and devotion than you have ever known,
yet also test your strength and courage.
If you allow, the journey will teach you many
things about life, about yourself, and most of
all, about love. You will come away
changed forever, for one soul cannot touch
another without leaving it's mark.
Along
the way, you will learn much about savoring
life's simple pleasures - jumping in leaves,
snoozing in the sun, the joy of puddles, and
even the satisfaction of a good scratch behind
the ears.
If you
spend much time outside, you will be taught how
to truly experience every element, for no rock,
leaf or log will go unexamined, no rustling bush
will be overlooked, and even the very air will
be inhaled, pondered, and noted as being full of
valuable information. Your pace may be
slower - except when heading home to the food
dish - but you will become a better naturalist,
having been taught by an expert in the field.
Too
many times we hike on automatic pilot, our goal
being to complete the trail rather than enjoy
the journey. We miss the details - the
colorful mushrooms on the rotting log, the
honeycomb in the old maple snag, the hawk
feather caught on a twig. Once we walk as
a dog does, we discover a whole new world.
We stop; we browse the landscape; we kick over
leaves, peek in tree holes, look up, down, all
around. And we learn what any dogs knows:
that nature has created a marvelously complex
world that is full of surprises, that each cycle
of the seasons brings ever-changing wonders,
each day an essence all its own.
Even
from indoors you will find yourself more attuned
to the world around you. You will find
yourself watching summer insecdts collecting on
a screen (how bizarre they are! How many kinds
there are!), or noting the flicker and flash of
fireflies through the dark. You will stop
to observe the swirling dance of windblown
leaves, or sniff the air after a rain. It
does not matter that there is no objective in
this; the point is in the doing, in not letting
life's most important details slip by.
You
will find yourself doing silly things that your
pet-less friends might not understand: spending
thirty minutes in the grocery aisle looking for
the cat food brand your feline must have, buying
dog birthday treats, or driving around the block
an extra time because your pet enjoys the ride.
You will roll in the snow, wrestle with chewie
toys, bounce little rubber balls till your eyes
cross, and even run around the house trailing
your bathrobe tie - with a cat in hot pursuit -
all in the name of love.
Your
house will become muddier and hairier. You
will wear less dark clothing and buy more lint
rollers. You may find dog biscuits in your
pocket or purse, and feel the need to explain
that an old plastic shopping bag adorns your
living room rug because your cat loves the
crinkly sound.
You
will learn the true measure of love - the
steadfast, undying kind that says, "It doesn't
matter where we are or what we do, or how life
treats us as long as we are together."
Respect this always. It is the most
precious gift any living soul can give another.
You will not find it often among the human race.
And you
will learn humility. The look in my dog's
eyes often made me feel ashamed. Such joy
and love at my presence. She saw not some
flawed human who could be cross and stubborn,
moody or rude, but only her wonderful companion.
Or maybe she saw those things and dismissed them
as mere human foibles, not worth considering,
and so chose to love me anyway.
If you
pay attention and learn well, when the journey
is done, you will not be just a better person,
but the person your pet always knew you to be -
the one they were proud to call beloved friend.
I must
caution you that this journey is not without
pain. Like all paths of true love, the
pain is part of loving. For as surely as
the sun sets, one day your dear animal companion
will follow a path you cannot yet go down.
And you will have to find the strength and love
to let them go. A pet's time on earth is
far too short - especially for those that love
them. We borrow them, really, just for
awhile, and during those brief years they are
generous enough to give us all of their love -
every inch of their spirit and heart, until one
day there is nothing left.
The cat
that only yesterday was a kitten is all too soon
old and frail and sleeping in the sun. The
young pup of boundless energy wakes up stiff and
lame, the muzzle now gray. Deep down we
somehow always knew this journey would end.
We knew that if we gave our hearts they would be
broken. But give them we must for it is
all they ask in return. When the time
comes, and the road curves ahead to a place we
cannot see, we give one final gifgt and let them
run on ahead - young and whole once more.
"Godspeed, good friend," we say, until our
journey comes full circle and our paths cross
again.
Crystal
Ward Kent 1998
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