Sometimes your past pain just sneaks up on you, and you end up laying in a cardboard box in a room full of soft blankets. Many of us try to hide these hurts, to move on to something we can “fix”, and turn away….uncomfortable with his seeming uncomfortableness….I caught myself internally pleading- “Leland just scootie over, move to a blanket near the warm fire….you will be much more relaxed…can’t you see you are safe….can’t you see that you are loved?” I resist my impulse of settling him in based on my own promises….I had sworn to honor his process of adapting, I was adamant that he only be himself. Plus, who am I to shoo away his 12 years as a lonely and abused street dog? So, instead I lay on the floor on my side, and sink into his honest eyes. Things are never this simple and LeeLow is on his own path of recovering. My own walls and wounds surface alongside his. Self imposed cardboard boxes? Boy does that sound judgmental and trite. Instead I think this honest soul is detoxing from a life filled with cruelty and unfairness. And, with love and time he//we can learn to push through any walls to connect with those who make us cozy in our and their hearts.
I know in many ways my dogs plead to me “scootie over to this warmth mama……see our displays of courage, don’t be afraid….and if you haven’t noticed- those boxes sure are flimsy”…
I know in many ways my dogs plead to me “scootie over to this warmth mama……see our displays of courage, don’t be afraid….and if you haven’t noticed- those boxes sure are flimsy”…
PawtoPalm 