Every day, we stumble into joy sapping situations. The situations often pop up unexpected and deplete us. We wake up feeling grateful, happy and at peace with world … and then something happens.
Many mornings, this is my something. Her name is Mary Spoon.
I realize that she looks all sugar-sweet and compliant. Why, she even looks a tad sorrowful and repentant in this picture. But you have no idea. This doe-eyed wonder likes to bark loudly, especially early, early in the morning. She also likes to jump on the back door. And she loves to dig big holes in the backyard. I complain about this dog a lot. Because she gets on my nerves. And under them. And all over them. But this morning, I was thinking about her (because she was barking loudly and jumping on the door) and I realized something … she.is.just.a.dog.
Suddenly I felt very ridiculous. A dog is stealing my joy. A dog that I feed, that I house. A dog that is not going anywhere. And honestly, neither is her strange, sometimes annoying behavior.
I have decided a dog should not have the capacity upset my morning peace, my early joy. And I have realized with all clarity – holding my peace and joy is my job, not hers.
Your dog looks like my dog, Hannah Louise (all my animals have middle names so they know when they are in trouble. It worked for my mother!). My Hannah was 8 months old when I brought her home from the pound. She systematically ate my yard. She ate the pond plants, the pond plant holders, the wiring to the pump in the pond (it’s a miracle she wasn’t electrocuted!), and the pond pump. She ate about $5000 worth of landscape lighting and underground sprinkler wiring. She ate the keys off my laptop! Hannah is 8 years old now and getting slower. Her coat is showing a lot more white than blonde. And while I agree whole-heartedly with you (we should not allow anything or anyone to steal our joy), I have come to realize that she has brought far more joy to me than I ever allowed her to steal.
Ditto … Mary Spoon has her little way of making me smile. Even when I’m mad at her. ;)
Several weeks ago I went to a conference held on the UT campus. The conference was for parents of children that had been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder.
That day several of us reflected that we had allowed (some were continuing to do so) the situation to sap our joy. Our children are incredible and there will always be something that comes up that will get all over our nerves–what a wonderful reminder that we control how we feel about those moments!
Instead of taking up your entire comment section with gushing about how smart you are and how much I adore your blog, would it be ok if I quoted a few lines of this in a post of my own soon?
Of course. ;)
Love and peace to you, friend.
Our dog brings us joy in the morning, even with her incessant yapping! She is just a happy little black dog.