Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / July 2007

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 will 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 its mark.

Along the way, you will learn much about savoring life's simple
pleasures -- jumping in leaves, snoozing in the sun, the joys 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 dog knows that nature has
created a marvelously complex world that is full of surprises, that
each cycle of the seasons bring ever changing wonders, each day an
essence all its own, each day a gift from God.

Even from indoors you will find yourself more attuned to the world
around you. You will find yourself watching: summer insects collecting
on a screen; how bizarre they are; how many kinds there are or noting
the flick 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
chewier 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 be not 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 trail 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 a while, and during these brief
years they are generous enough to give us all 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 now wakes up
stiff and lame, the muzzle gone to gray.

Deep down we somehow always knew that 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 gift and let
them run on ahead, young and whole once more. "God speed, good
friend," we say, until our journey comes full circle and our paths
cross again.

And bless their souls for sharing their lives with us... and adding so
much to our very existence.

Regards