Two Best Buddies. . .
I was at the sink in our home in Florida when grandson Josh came in with this bear and I gasped! When I found my voice I asked if he was staying. The answer was we don’t know if he fits. Fits whom, what or where? After a few skirmishes, Leroy fit our hearts nicely. That was in May of 2015 and he weighed 120 lbs.
Locations changed and he made the trip with son John and Rottweiler Cooper in the car to California. After a few incidents we settled in our present home and Leroy and Cooper were at home again. He was a free dog (there is no such thing) because his family needed to find another home for him when conditions changed.
He is a Newfoundland and now weighs in at 185 lbs or thereabouts. I thought when first seeing him that he was not very smart looking and had a face only a mother could love. And he drools and has allergies. But I learned he is very smart but a goofball.
He is a love and here you see him sit with his good buddy sizing up the situation. Leroy waits patiently for John. I am the food lady with treats. He can tell time and alerts me to his dinnertime. He finds me wherever I am and I say give me five and I put up my hand. He settles down and is quiet until I am ready to get his meal.
He is still young so his enthusiasm shakes his entire body. When he has authorized a visit of someone, he allows them be. He is not just a dog, but a companion animal. He is a species we have created by our need for a kind of companionship we do not find in others; warm in comfort, profusely loving and demanding little from us that we no longer can or wish to give time to.
One can argue the merits of such companions, but cannot argue their presence among us, almost in every household. I wonder what we would have become without the loving presence of these animals in our lives.
I have a kinship. I speak to them and pick up their thoughts. It struck me when the back stairs were icy in Illinois and I told Cooper she would have to go out the front door instead of the back door where she was standing. She turned around and walked down the hall to the front door and turned to look at me. Now?
Granddaughter Jessie feels I love dogs more than people. I laughingly say if I have to come back you will find me in a high tower doing research and raising dogs to anchor my humanity. That conclusion comes at high cost.
4 responses to “Two Best Buddies. . .”
Oh Veronica…. I love what you say about your dogs as I love ours/mine now…the same way! Bless you! I so hope you are doing well! Pat Evans. (Sending you a virtual hug at the moment b/c I really wish I could give you a real one. You are such a sturdy, stalwart soul and mentor all of us! Be well…as long as you can.
Pat thank you. I need the affirmation time and again to see that my thinking is still philosophically and relevantly sound to the times. Maybe not the trendy but value sound. I appreciate my readers and still think they are the most intelligent of all.
email from Jane Mc. . . . .Loved this story…animals truly do good things for all of us….well said and who picks who…I have been adopted several times now!!…and I like to belong to a furry friend for sure!! love you
Jane. . . I long ago gave up thinking coincidence in my life. Nothing is and especially companions be they animal or persons. Both are in and out of our lives at different times, leaving their heart prints.