By
Crystal Ward Kent
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 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.
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 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 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 awhile, 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 wakes up stiff and lame, the muzzle now 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. “Godspeed, good friend,” we say, until our journey comes full circle and our paths cross again.