Have you hugged your … today?

Most of us are lucky that we have a variety of personalities who are in our lives. I have simplified them down to;
– rocks – the stable and dependable ones,
– earths – those slightly kooky hippies,
– winds – the ones who breeze through life, and
– fires – the ones who ignite our emotions.

Sometimes though you lose one of these from your life and you suddenly realise what they were giving you that all the others didn’t.

Looking at this picture, it is probably a pretty easy guess that the personality I am talking about here is a wind – or possibly a tornado 🙂

Our little white dog Jessica passed away suddenly only a short time ago. She would have been 5 years old in September.  Both my partner and I miss her terribly. The rest of our family, the little black dog (also a Lab – she will be 6 years old in December) and our 2-year-old, are less overtly aware of our missing ball of energy. But we are pretty sure they know…

While our house is currently a much calmer place, we can’t help missing the sheer exuberance and energy that Jess brought to the house. Having someone who is so excited about anything you do with them is one of those things that just makes you feel special. Jessica was always thrilled to be doing whatever she was doing when you were there. She was so happy when you tried to give her a pat or a cuddle that she would struggle to sit still.  You can’t even find a photo of her where she isn’t smiling happily – even getting her to sit still for a photo would usually require some bribery. And when Jessica was sleeping, she was still on the move.

While all these things make a great statement of Jessica’s love for life, they also show you what it is like having a wind personality in the household. Everything is at ten tenths, never five. Why would you walk when you can run. Once you know what something is, you need to know the next thing, and then the next, and the next. There might be something more interesting over there. Hey, am I missing anything over here?

So… now that she is gone… I can regret not giving her more belly scratches or playing more tug of war… But maybe I should just rejoice in the happy glow that Jessica brought everywhere she went, smile a lot and be thrilled and excited by all the little wonders I encounter. It certainly worked for Jessica.

Will miss you little white dog.

Keith

PS. “Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” – Roger Caras