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Some things have come up in the past couple of days that have been rough on me. Despite this my roommate Maddie (who now works at PawPADs) sends me pictures of Ganther playing and being happy. Even though the words are coming from her mouth, she's reminding me that to Ganther, I am successful and perfect just the way I am. I am his mom and his constant (for the time being) and he is proud of me no matter what. I am grateful to both Ganther and Maddie for helping me as I get through this.. Sometimes life gives you a choice and that choice is between something that is for yourself or something that is for someone else. You can never go wrong when you choose someone else.
I guess we are always learning. Ganther also taught me how to hold my ground, he was stubborn sometimes and would hold out for the magical treat, tug rope, or tennis ball, but I learned that sometimes you just needed to wait him out and he would do what you would ask and do it repeatedly. He was so smart and despite getting frustrated sometimes and barking, he would catch on to what I was asking and eventually get it down super well ("Are you shy?"). He would also just randomly refuse to do things, and there was nothing that I could pinpoint that would scare him (often times, if I would lay down and ask for a squish to get him into the car and he would jump right in for that) it was just him being like nope, not today. He would also ALWAYS want to sniff trees or poles and would pull me -arm socket and all- over to the tree so he could sniff, over time I learned that he couldn't do that so I would just have to keep walking and tell him to leave it. He was persistent and taught me to be equally or more persistent, which I think I will use a lot this summer when I am a lifeguard at a girl scout camp. He taught how to balance and know when to be persistent and when to let loose and even though those may seem like they are at the opposite sides of the spectrum and how could one dog teach me those two things, but he did and he was both of those things.
Another end of the semester means another appreciation post for the dog I have had for the last semester. This semester Ganther taught me how to let loose and be goofy. Now that sounds a little weird but it's true. I would randomly turn around while studying to see him on his back playing with his bone or toy, lifting it out of his mouth with his paws and putting it back in again. He had no sense of embarrassment, he just went with the flow of life, took things that came at him, and moved on like it was what was supposed to happen. He found a way to make me smile everyday: on the dark days, he would come and just always be touching me because he knew that was what I needed, on the better days he would be his normal goofy self. He taught me to let go of the things that I can't control and just be goofy and myself. I miss him, but I will forever remember him as the dog that taught me to shake off what I can't control and to control what I can, but if that doesn't go my way, life will be alright.
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June 2020
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