Wipe Out!

Alvin lights up each and every time my mom comes over but last night his excitement caused  him to do a full wipe out.  When my mom came through the door last night Alvin had just turned to walk the other way and he did a fast backwards glance at the door when he spotted my mom.  This caused him to attempt to turn and run towards her but his body was moving faster than his mind and he ended up doing a half leap, odd turn, and an attempted forward run, which ended in a full wipe out.  This did not faze him a bit as he picked himself and made his way to her.  His excitement is infectious and I nearly leaped up to cheer that she was here but then remembered that she lives next door and comes over all the time.  It is only Alvin that finds the event to be over-the-top exciting each and every time.  He now spends so much time tapping his nose on her that she is forced to put her legs up on the chair because his moist, cold nose becomes irritating after the first three hours.  This causes him to then spend the evening gazing and longing for her to drop a leg or two.  In Alvin's world, no one else exists when my mom is present.  I took him over to her house for a visit today and when we were leaving, he turned around, ran back in, gave her one more nose tap before being willing to part with her. 

When watching this level of devotion I am reminded that there is not a love that is purer, more selfless, or more unconditional that we as humans are fortunate enough to receive.  For me, Timmie was the dog that loved me in a way I didn't even know was possible.  My mom was loved by Timmie in the same way and she now gets to experience it a second time.  My mom loved Timmie in a way that she probably won't ever love another dog but Alvin loves her with the same amount of devotion and if he could just get over his fear he would choose to spend every second curled up next to her. 

I think of how Stevie shows her love and I see it most when I walk through the door.  It doesn't matter if I have just gone out to get something from my car, when I walk through the door I am greeted with a dog full joy.  Because Stevie used to be blind, she always has to jump up on me and put her face on mine just to make sure it's me.  A couple of days ago, my niece, Maisy was over here and when she left, I walked her to the door and let her out.  For a second, Stevie thought I had left too and when she discovered I was still there, she leaped for joy.  The problematic part of her devotion is that she will often stand out in the rain by the gate to wait for my return.  Today as I was walking back from my mom's house, I spotted her through the gate and saw her catch my scent and she turned and ran as fast as she could to greet me at the door.  It is difficult to see the scar around her neck of an embedded collar.  She was clearly tied to something outside and I feel bad for the people with closed hearts who never allowed themselves to experience the love that she would have surely given them.

All of this causes me to reflect on how lucky we as humans are to be the undeserving recipients of that kind of love.  For those who doubt the existence of God, I find that one of the most obvious signs that God exists is in the love of animals for humans.  It would be difficult to imagine that that kind of love and devotion wasn't divinely created and inspired.  And while writing this touching last paragraph, my mom just pointed out that Alvin got his head stuck in her pant leg.  He wedged his head as far up her pant leg as possible, in an effort to nose tap as much of her as possible and ended up stuck in her pant leg........well, maybe that part isn't divinely inspired.