Fearful of Dogs

It is interesting to look back over my 32 years, when I was almost 2 years old and saw a dog I would panic then cry. I was sure those dogs would bite me or jump up knocking me down. Now 30 years later I am surrounded by dogs in the dog park, I am holding my hand up for the signs and commands that my dogs look for and I am dog-sitting with true love and full care! THIS is ironic, I have come into my own with my strong passion for the very same animal I was terrified of when I was just a toddler! 
Yet when the soul of a dog met mine, I was forever changed. Just as importantly we offer our friendship and protection equally with our pets! They are apart of us in ways no one else gets to see, they sleep beside us, they watch us at all times and they remind us to PLAY again! They make us laugh and lean in when we cry. I have seen so many dogs in my life time, I have learned so many things from them......It is strange for me to remember in my childhood I was so afraid of dogs! Maybe those dogs that crossed my fearful path saw in me the leading loving adult I was growing into? Maybe they approached me because it was an unknown fact to me in that fear of mine to hide away from them, they always knew the truth of how now even when bit I still hold my ground next to a dog, knowing they need me to be calm in protecting them. In leading them to a happy good life! For a dog is more then a man's best friend, a dog IS apart of a man's family, that is the ultimate loyalty. I have no more room for fear with dogs, I can look into their eyes and know instantly if there is trust or doubt.....Walking the vineyards with my aunts and cousins on our wine tasting ladies weekend, a frightful neighbor dog came to me among the rows of grape vines as I calmly saw in his one good eye that he needed to feel safe first. I waited down on my knees for him to come to me then happily I petted and hugged him. When the center core of myself goes calm and peaceful, when I have no time frames or places to be, in that very moment I enter another place in my patience, I feel like I am seeing through the dogs eyes. For Now is the only time there is, Together is the only way to live and dogs have always known these things!

Just like in one of my favorite lines of a song "And when you finally fly away I'm hoping that I served you well....."