Our eldest son came home for the holidays yesterday. If our son didn’t realize how excited his mom and dad were for him to be here, our dogs made sure to show him. To be as uninhibited as a happy dog, should be on all of our holiday wish lists this year.
Speaking of dogs, I had sort of a mystical experience this weekend, when I opened up a box of a Christmas wreath which we never put up, but we keep in our attic year after year. In the box, was only the wreath and a small, white satin pouch. I opened the pouch and I found an ornament with a picture of Lacey, my first collie and the dog who transformed me and loved me like no other dog in my life. I do not recall ever buying, or seeing this ornament. It touched my heart deeply and I felt connected to the spirit of Lacey and all the love she gave to me and our family. This ornament will be the centerpiece of this year’s tree.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
When we dropped off my middle son at medical school earlier this year, there was a beautiful fountain on the medical campus, with this inscription engraved around the circumference:
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
It felt so fitting to see that lovely quote, as we were watching our son embarking on his dream of going to medical school which he had worked so hard towards, for so many years. It turns out that the quote is by Christopher Reeve, the incredibly inspiring actor and activist, whose birthday would have been today. Christopher Reeve also said this:
“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.” Always choose hope. When you look back at your life, you see so many things which have worked themselves out, in the most amazing, unexpected ways than you could have ever imagined, right? Hop on the hope train, and never get off. Always keep hope in your back pocket, as you journey through your life adventures. Hope’s compass always points north.
On a less serious note, I passed a store window the other day, and I saw this:
As my long time readers know, back in 2020, during quarantine, I temporarily lost my mind (didn’t we all?) and I decided that our family needed to get on the pandemic puppy bandwagon. My husband was not on board, mostly because we already have two other young, large, energy-filled dogs, Ralphie, the Labrador (the one who is currently on a diet, firmly against his will) and Josie, the elegant, yet noisy collie. Still, in the end, we “compromised” and we got Trip:
Now, honestly, I can’t pretend that having a three dog family is necessarily an ideal situation. I fully admit that there is often quite a bit of chaos, involved with living with three energetic, young dogs. That being said, all of us, in our family, have fallen quite hard for our crazy little Trippy. Interestingly, Trip has chosen my husband as “his person” and although he won’t ever admit it, I think that my husband is just a little bit smitten with our little brown dog.
“Dogs are like potato chips. You can’t have just one.”
“The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.”
“When an 85 pound mammal licks your tears away, and then tries to sit on your lap, it’s hard to feel sad.” — Kristan Higgins
