Odd One Out

You were a gift after my previous dog, a Shih-Tzu too, passed away

I picked you…or you picked me… I have forgotten.

Like me,

You were the odd one out:

Clumsy

Splotched

And with an underbite- you tried to appear like a tough girl among your siblings.

But,

You had colored eyes with a white flask of love over one and a black freckle of reality in the other

You were the first to greet me when I entered the woman’s home that fateful day.

Today, at our home, you are still the first to greet me.

Yes. After I have failed at human relationships, inner relationships, or relationships within relationships, you are there to greet me.

I love bicycles, the beach, the buoyancy of balls

You despise these.

You love talking, walking, smelling, scratching, pulling, chasing, life-ing.

I cower in the face of these.

But,

You are always there.

The look of indignant betrayal, with your nose stuck up, and your lips questioning, when I smell of scents other than yours-

Ah, yes: the look of someone who cares where I have been and what I have been up to but still tries to punish me for not taking you with me.

You sense my irritation, my tiredeness, my pride, my accomplishments, my contradictive emotions,

You accept them.

With no laugh, embarrassment, or question- no Who? What? When? Where? Why?!

But: Tell me more, how do you feel, I’m here for you.

Although subtly and secretly, you are the reason I am here today,

My motivation to keep pushing even when I am buried under layers of pressure.

Wag for Wave. Howl for Hi. Smile for Smile.

I hope I am to you what you are to me.