A Life Lesson

If you know me at all well, you know that I don't make connections between things very well. Whether its because the pieces of information come from different fields or are just separated from each other by time, I've never been good at "connecting the dots." Geez, even my 10-year old nephew has noticed this about me. So this evening's revelations came only because they happened simulateously.

A friend of mine is going through a rough patch as one of her dog's is very sick. I had gotten an email from her earlier giving me an update on his condition, and unfortunately there just wasn't any good news in it. In the email I sent back to her, I made a statement that it just never seems to be easy, this living with animals.

Later, I was doing a bit of cleaning up around because the cleaning lady is coming in the morning and no, that's not as incongruous as it might sound at first. Anyway, since my brain wasn't particularly involved in the cleaning process, I started to think.

I remembered when Doc and Shorty, two cats who have since crossed over, gave JD a pot holder when he was just a pup. Not understanding this was merely the latest attempt by the the cats to do him in, he ate the darned thing. Now since he hid what was left of the pot holder under the mat in his crate, we didn't find it for several days. During that time, he threw up and wouldn't poop. He finally had to have surgery to remove the pot holder bits that had gotten stuck in his gut. In the surgery, they split him from top to bottom to clean out his intestines. Fortunately, he got better.

And I remembered when I first got Coop what bad shape he was in with a shattered hip that took two medications to help with the pain, multiple infections requiring several antibiotics, and parasites so bad I could tell you things that would give you nightmares. It took months before he was well enough to have surgery on his hip. The first month, every time I took him to the vet they would tell me they still weren't sure if he'd make it or not. And then later, he developed an acute cataract that required surgery.

I was pondering how these illnesses had allowed me to form bonds with these animals that are incredibly strong, even years later. In both cases, we formed a connection based on trust that came directly from the care I gave. As I'm thinking about this, a commercial came on for a movie with Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks called, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." I haven't seen the movie, but I've seen reviews and know the story is about a young boy whose father dies during the terrorist attacks of 9/11. One of the quotes from the trailer has struck me every time I've heard the movie advertised--"If things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding."

Like I said, I don't connect things together very easily. It was hearing that phrase while thinking about what I've gained from the struggles with my dogs that I began to generalize along the lines of that quote. I hated going through my own rough patches. They were agonizing and nerve wracking, not to mention expensive. But from them I gained companions and friendships that nourish me every day and make my life now worthwhile.

So here's to those tough times. They serve to teach us how to appreciate good times and good friends. The tougher the situation is, the more we learn to cherish life. Its the struggles we see through to the other side that make every day after that worth living.