Scrappy is my brother. He is one of the grumpiest dogs you’ve ever met. He growls constantly and loudly. He never bites but you know when you’re in his space, or across the room from him, or on his bad side. Mom says the older he gets the worse it gets, she said she has always expected a great deal of him and made him deal with a lot- babies, parks, other pets, day care, grooming, stray cats, long days in kennels, rules, and HER. Mom says he was the best and easiest, but so many years of high expectations can change a dog. He isn’t just cranky with me. Oh, no! He is cranky with EVERYONE! Everyone except Dad. This is Scrappy’s second dad and absolute, most favorite person of all time. I heard a rumor; Dad is his favorite because when they met Dad used to take him for rides (Scrappy loves rides) and on those rides they would stop for an old fashioned doughnut at Dunkin’ Donuts. I don’t know what that is but Scrappy sure must think it’s great, and if he thinks it’s great, it must be amazing.
Have I mentioned that food is my most favorite thing in the whole entire world?!? When mom fills my bowl with those crunchy little nuggets of delectable goodness, I will do a happy dance that would move Simon Cowell to press the golden buzzer. How’s the song go? I’ve got the moves like Jagger? That said, Mom and her unusually high expectations is thoroughly unimpressed with my moves. She would prefer I not “lose my mind”, knocking over food, water, and crumpling potty papers. She wants me to sit and wait. Sitting and waiting is incredibly challenging.
Did I mention food is my favorite thing in the whole wide world?!? I would gobble up my breakfast or dinner (the slow feeder bowl does not slow me down, it just makes eating slightly annoying), then I would run over to Scrappy’s bowl and try to steal a taste of those old man nuggets that are equally and maybe more yummy than my own. I did that just enough times for Scrappy to decide his growl was not an effective form of communication. That day, he decided a snap might be a better way to get not only get his point across, but also my attention. He scared me with that trick twice. Those scares taught me a valuable lesson, one I am going to share with you.
Waiting is hard, really hard, painstakingly hard! It seems even harder when the thing you are focused on is something you want more or love more than anything in the whole entire world. Scrappy taught me that waiting, and doing it patiently, without barking, has it’s benefits. If I lie really close to Scrappy and wait for him to finish, I will absolutely get to lick the bowl, and on a really good day, I get to finish the last of the scrumptious old man nuggets he left behind. All this can happen without Mom or Scrappy yelling at me, or me being put into the mud room while Scrappy finishes. If that happens the bowl magically disappears before I am allowed back out.
Being Patient means I benefit. I get to enjoy this pleasure that would be removed from my grasp otherwise. There is power in patience. Things you want will be yours when they are supposed to be. You just have to be willing to wait for them. Waiting doesn’t mean taking your eye off of the prize. Waiting (with patience) means knowing the thing you want will be yours at exactly the time it is supposed to be.