Lessons from Harper

My dog's name is Harper; she's a Lab/ Great Pyrenees mix, according to the vet. She has two spare toes on her 2 back legs, and they dangle off the sides as if they don't necessarily belong there. What's the point? I don't know. Anyway, apparently that's a distinguishing feature of a Great Pyrenees. Here I have a picture of Harper (to the left) and a picture of a Lab/ Great Pyrenees I found online (above). Though I'll never know for sure exactly what my dog is (I adopted her from a shelter), I'll agree with the vet.

I can't generalize for all dogs, but I know this of my own canis lupus familiaris: some of life's greatest lessons can be learned from your four-legged friend. Harper causes me more pleasure and pain (often within seconds of one another) than any other living creature possibly could. She sleeps in a wire crate in the basement (her "house," as I call it-- and she sprints to said house when I ask her to... she loves it). To us, it may seem like solitary confinement, yes, but Harper loves it-- it's her home. And as much as she adores her little jailhouse, she's even more ecstatic to greet me in the morning when I open the door to let her out. Never in my life have I experienced another living thing who was so excited to see me (and it's like this every day-- she never tires of this routine!). There is no doubt in my mind that, if she could, she would jump up, wrap her paws around me, and give me a five-minute hug every morning. And a million kisses. Yes, she loves me that much. Why? Because she can.

So I release her from her jail-- she bounds up the stairs, then back down to meet me halfway (I'm not scaling them quickly enough, I suppose), then back up the stairs. I let her outside, she does her "business," and she comes back into the house. She then waits, pressed tightly in the corner between the wall and the front door, as I pour a cup of food in her dish. She watches me intently, waiting for the "go" command. I tell her "okay," and she leaps to her food dish and gobbles it down-- this is one of the best parts of her day. The dog eats the very same thing, every day, twice a day, and it never gets old-- it is consistently one of the most amazing elements in her life.

What does she do all day? She stares out the window, naps, and occasionally chews on a squeaky toy, a partially-dissected/once-stuffed animal, or her Kong-- and she's perfectly content. Well... she used to be content. Until a couple weeks ago, when she started eating everything in sight. Business cards, bills, socks, lightbulbs (yes, whole glass lightbulbs), currency (I've lost $25 cash to her appetite), wallets, and credit cards... she is an expensive canine. Every time I see her eating my money (literally chewing up my funds), I scold her. And this makes her very sad; she heads into the corner and refuses to look at me. Give it two minutes, and she'll be right by my side again, trying to get as close to me as possible. Because she loves me unconditionally.

My dog has four loves in her life: her "house," humans, food, and exercise. A while ago, I taught her to retrieve my running shoes and leash upon command. Lately, she does pretty well with bringing the leash; however, she gets so excited about the idea of going for a run that she brings not only my running shoes, but also my mom's shoes, random magazines, gloves, hats, my phone, my purse, her food dish... you get the picture. I may have created a monster here. Regardless, it's refreshing to witness this infinite enthusiasm for exercise.

See? We can learn so much from our canine counterparts. What has Miss Harper taught us today?

1) Home is, in fact, where the heart is. It may feel exhilarating to get out and experience life, but you will always find absolute comfort in your home. Though perhaps from the outside, your home may seem small and insignificant, it is nonetheless home.

2) Be thankful for the simple things in life. It's safe to say that many of us have had "nothing to wear," or perhaps we've had to eat "the same crap every day." Enjoy what you've got. Odds are, you're more fortunate than billions of other people in the world. My poor dog eats the same serving of the same food every day, and is still thrilled by life. We should only be so lucky to feel the same way about the things we've got.

3) Take a nap when you can. It's something our teachers tried to instill in us in kindergarten... somehow along the way, our teachers/ professors/ bosses ceased planning our days around naptime. It's obvious, though, that it relieves stress. So give it a shot. I would vote for daily naps at work.

4) Get out and exercise-- and enjoy it! If we're healthy enough to be able to walk/run around outside, we should. We have this beautiful Earth, and we should be out enjoying it. You should get so pumped about the fact that you're able to enjoy the great outdoors that you can't figure out where to start to get ready. Don't go tearing your house up/ throwing magazines and pillows around/ tossing all your flatware in the bathtub (the human equivalent to what my dog does)-- just get excited about going for a walk. Simple.

5) Find your true family/ friends and love them unconditionally. We're human; we find ourselves in altercations from time to time. But things blow over. Usually, these quarrels are over small, insignificant things. Move along and concentrate on what truly matters. Forgive and forget (Harper's great at that). These people will always be important to you; if they're true friends and family, you'll always be important to them as well. You don't want to lose that.

To me, having a dog is experiencing pure joy in all that life has to offer. When I realize I'm worrying too much about little things or failing to live life to the fullest, I look at Harper and take note. It's true: the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

Travel: my favorite antidote

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." --Mark Twain

I was getting ready to go for a run today when something on TV caught my attention: it was a travel show about Tikal, Guatemala. I had all my running gear on, and was ready to head out the door, in fact, when I heard the show begin; I only planned on watching for a minute or so, but soon I realized that I was still standing there as the ending credits rolled after the half-hour show ended. I was enthralled. If you've never heard of Tikal, take a look at some websites on it; you won't be disappointed. Tikal is a city of ancient Mayan ruins (mostly temples) found in Guatemala, and some of these temples date back to 700 AD. Pretty cool-- I think experiencing things like that can give us a vastly different perspective on "American-ism," for lack of a better word. Traveling anywhere, experiencing anything outside of one's comfort zone, should give any person a better perspective of the amazing world we live in.

Guatemala is one of my favorite countries-- I've been lucky enough to have visited the country a number of times, and each visit leaves me feeling rejuvenated-- living in the Saginaw Valley in Michigan, it isn't often that I get to experience a lush, tropical, volcanic environment like that of Guatemala. Sprawling coffee plantations (serving up the best coffee in the world, in my opinion!), gorgeous Spanish colonial homes, cobblestone streets, majestic natural wonders (like Semuc Champey), breathtaking mountain views anywhere you turn, and some of the happiest people in the world-- it's difficult to imagine a more amazing place.

The point here is not necessarily to write solely about the wonder that is Guatemala; yes, I was, in fact, interested in the overall content of the Guatemala travel program today. However, what inspired me most was the host's ending comment, in which he quoted Mark Twain: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." I wholeheartedly agree, Mr. Twain. The most narrow-minded people I know are those have never experienced anything outside their comfort zone. I'm a huge proponent of traveling, experiencing new things and meeting new people. I would urge anyone to take the leap, if they can, and go somewhere.

To "take the leap" doesn't necessarily mean leaving the country-- take inventory of some of the amazing things our own country (or state, for that matter) has to offer. Northern Michigan offers a host of natural wonders-- and most are nearly untouched. And a bit further west-- Grand Canyon, anyone? I've never seen it, but it's definitely on my list of things to do. Or on a more cultural note-- there are some pretty interesting (and old) cities in the U.S., like St. Augustine, Boston, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Santa Fe... the list goes on and on. My point is this: get out and see what else is out there. It'll help you get to know your world better, and you'll likely know yourself better. Sometimes it helps to see how big the world is before we can understand how small we all are.