Piccolo, GG, Gemma, Tucker, CJ, Daisy, Mimi, they’re all names of dogs I meet on my daily walks. I sometimes forget the owner’s names but their names are stuck with me. They make me smile and I get happier when they recognize me. They brush up against me, ushering me for a pat or rub and the tail, well the wagging tail tells me they are just as happy to see me.
I learned so much from these animals. I miss having my own now. They are dependent on you but unlike children, they remain dependent on you for a lifetime and perhaps that is what I miss the most. The ability to nurture something that won’t let go.
I never understood the craze with dog owners until I became a dog magnet myself. Animals catch my attention more than people. Sometimes I would gladly sit and pat a dog than engage in a conversation with a person. I’m drawn to the warmth and the love that they expose. The silence that voices everything and the eyes that say so much only a few hear. All they want is to be loved.
Every living thing needs some love. People need attention and encouragement, they need acceptance and to be encompassed with some compassion. Yet more often than none they change. It’s just a fact of life. Something that feels so desirable initially will soon be taken for granted. Little by little relationships change, it’s inevitable, we evolve so change has to happen. Some of my relationships have been hard work, draining and left me almost lifeless. I’ve let go not because I’m not capable of loving but because they are no longer needing the love I offer, it’s not enough or it never was. Reading people is exhausting and demanding. The complex and mystifying task of reading minds takes on another level of fatigue.
Dogs don’t hurt you, they don’t leave, they use no words to blemish you. They are loyal and they want nothing but to be cared for and they want to please. Humans are complicated and so when I walk my step will automatically gear towards the fluffy four legged creature that demands nothing from me. Just love and more love, nothing but love.