Brought Back to the Past

This one of my dogs, Buddy, looking down the hatch when he wants to come down into the hull of the boat.

This morning, when I was climbing into the dinghy, one of my dogs was standing close to the edge of the boat with his eyes full of hope. What was it he wanted? To go to shore.

We usually don't take our dogs to shore because they have learned to go to the bathroom on the boat. Since we live on a catamaran, the dogs have a large deck space to run around on and the dogs can be quite happy if they want to be.

I had to go to shore in order to do my schoolwork, but I had a while before the marina building would open up. I had time to spare. His eyes are just so hopeful I had to give in. I grabbed his leash and picked him up. I placed him in the dinghy and drove my sister and myself to shore.

Once at shore, I decided that I would take my dog for a walk around the park. He was all excited about being at shore, so he could not sit still. We were walking past the baseball fields when I saw that there was a tennis ball in the field. I decided then that it would be so much fun to play fetch with my dog. I grabbed the tennis ball, walked my dog past the sign that said "No animals allowed on the fields", and began to throw the ball for my dog. He looked so happy. He'd chase after the ball, bring it back to me, and seconds before he actually made it to me, he'd turn and run the other way. It was the cutest thing that I've seen in a while. Once tired, I laid down on the grass and just paused to take a deep breath and he sat down next to me. That's when I realized something. I realized how far I'd come in the past couple of months. How much I've changed. I've become a whole different person, seen new, different things. I'm not the person I used to be, but still I had my best friend. Sitting next to me after making my day.

Maybe that's why God gave us dogs? They're the ones that we can talk to when everything goes wrong and everyone has turned on us? Dogs are the ones who will love us despite who we are. Dogs are the creatures that were made to bring us happiness. I don't know what I'd do without their love and their ability to make me feel loved when I feel like the rest of the world has turned against me.