Short but joyful lives

About a year and a half ago my family went through a very traumatic experience when we lost our dog, Rocky. I've owned many dogs in my life but never one quite like him. He had a degree of personality that was quite amazing, and had a full range of vocalizations that seemed almost human. By the time he died at the age of ten he was completely blind due to glaucoma and had epilepsy. It was an uncontrollable seizure that finally took his life. One of the unfortunate side-effects of his being so extraordinary was that he took our hearts by storm, and it was very difficult to open ourselves up again. This was very hard in particular on my wife.

When I came out of the hospital last month one of the promises I made myself was to get another dog. I knew that we needed it, not just for the companionship, even though that was important, but because there was healing that needed to be done. And with Debbie being home much of the time it would also give her someone else to focus upon, making life that much less lonely.

The paradox of the animal-human connection is that most of our pets will not live as long as we will. We take them into our lives and hearts knowing that fact, but trying to deny it as long as we can. But I maintain that the joy our companion animals bring into our lives is worth the heartache of knowing that we will likely lose them at some point. Even when we chose a spouse, we must acknowledge that eventually one of us (in most cases) will lose the other. Life is simply not worth living if we do not open ourselves up to the joy and love of others, even knowing that the opposite side of the coin is eventual pain and loss. God did that with us...He opened Himself up to us, knowing that He would have to watch His only Son die on a cross.

This last weekend we opened our hearts again, and will welcome two rescued Shih Tzu into our home. We may not be able to make a difference for all the dogs out there, but we can make a difference for these two...and they in turn will make a difference in our lives. Let the joy begin.