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Poster Child of A Beautiful Day

Fall is here, finally. It has been a wickedly hot summer. Please don’t misunderstand, I completely enjoy basking in the warm summer air on the hot patio stones. I however, have never had the luxury of experiencing anything other than spring and summer. But today… Mom said it was a PERFECT fall day. It’s sunny, about 70 degrees, the wind is blowing, and absolutely no humidity to speak of. It really is the poster child of a beautiful day.

Mom and Dad were supposed to be gone all day, but Boy’s school called and Mom had to pick him up very early. When she got home, she opened all the windows, opened the door, and told us to “get out”. It felt beyond delightful, lying outside in the cool grass with the leaves whirling past me and the tree limbs swaying gently in the breeze. There’s just so much to look at when it is all continually moving.

Fall is a new experience for me. I felt the need to soak in and relish in every refreshing moment of this new experience. I needed to genuinely enjoy the moment I was in. It was vital to take in and appreciate how every tiny little piece of the universe came together perfectly, to create, not just a magical moment, but a joy filled day.

This is my way of telling you, to take notice. Remember to enjoy where you are in a moment. Sometimes, we can be too focused on the wrong parts, or too focused overall, or even too busy. Sometimes these moments can be hard to find and easily missed. Take a pause each day and take note. Find something that brought you joy. It could be an interaction, a gift, a smile, getting a job done, the weather, the whole stinking day. Don’t let those little moments or days of joy pass you by. These are the things worth spotlighting.

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The Meeting

I came to a pet store on a Tuesday, much like many mill puppies do, on the back of a truck. I was taken into the store and examined by their contracted vet. The vet found something wrong during examination and informed the pet store owner that I should be taken to the office for an x-ray to confirm her findings. The pet store owner, put me in a carrier on Friday and drove me to the hospital.

A lady with brown hair, dressed in a green apron pulled me out of the carrier. She tucked me under her arm and proceeded to the back of the hospital where there was another lady with a green apron, and a funny looking machine. The lady with the brown hair, held me like a baby and smooched all over me while the other lady manipulated my legs on this machine. Apparently this is the way you take an x-ray. Once they took a picture the lady with the brown hair baby carried me, patiently waiting for my x-ray to process. She whispered in my ear “I will call you Morti”.  Morti, what kind of name is that?!?

Turns out I have hip dysplasia. The x-ray showed that the head of my femur is abnormal. Everyone made sad faces, but put me back in the carrier and I went back to the pet store. Puppies with deformities aren’t worth anything to a pet store. So they put me in a back room to make sure I couldn’t flash my brown eyes at passersby, and no one could fall in love with me and my charming personality.

Apparently, while I was waiting at the pet store, the lady with the brown hair was asking all sorts of questions about my condition.

“What will they do with him?”
“What might his condition look like in the future?”
“Is it something he could live a normal life with?”

That night, the lady with the brown hair came to the pet store to pick me up. I live with her now. I call her Mom. She did not name me Morti (thanks Dad).

This day I learned that just because someone thinks you are or calls you worthless . They are wrong. They are so wrong. There is always someone out there that will love you just the way you are. Someone who will find beauty in your flaws (mom likes my bunny hop when I try to run). Someone who will allow you to shine, just the way you are, so the rest of the world can also find the beauty in you too. I am not worthless, no one is worthless.

This is the beginning of my story.