“Love, love, kiss, kiss!”

Sophia

My Better Endings story for June’s question of ‘Why Am I/ Are You Here?’ is about moving forward with love and an open heart. I look to my pet companions Sophie and Emily for my inspiration, as they give constant, unconditional love without ever having to think about it!

Emily

Emily has her purr mantra that I am blessed to receive on my chest in our favorite chair most mornings and at night before going to dreams.

Sophie has developed a special gift as a Greeter when we go walking in our new community. Sometimes when she sees a person coming in our direction even halfway down a block, Sophie plants herself on the spot, refusing to budge until the person comes closer or until I take her to greet them. She gives them welcoming wet Shorkie kisses. “Love, love, kiss, kiss!” I often say to her while she extends her greeting ritual, especially when there are kids involved. People love it (mostly), usually commenting on how sweet Sophie is. She lifts their spirits with her loving gift, as both Emily and Sophie do for me always.

image from pixabay.com

Sophie and Emily’s unconditional blessings of love which evoke reciprocity while never demanding any return, are my strong waking dream for stepping forward in a new home with Love and an Open Heart. It is a selfless service they naturally share with trust and faith in the basic goodness of life. My next month’s question (re. the yearly Quest of attaining True Happiness) will be to explore ‘How May I Serve Thee?’

I welcome YOUR Story and Comments!

Pets ARE Better Endings

Animal companions are, to me, Better Endings incarnate. How can they not be, with their amazing capacity for unconditional love and acceptance? A pet is for Life, with the only hard part being that, as humans, we tend to outlive them.

My pets certainly bring Better Endings to work days or basically to any time away from and then returning to our house. They make of our household a Home, just by being there. Coming home to my beloved pet companions lightens my load and helps me more than just about anything else to keep an open Heart.

Sophie en route to New York to see her Grandmom

Loki (with Arthur above)

Arthur and sister Emily

Currently I live with four animal friends, three cats and a dog.  Cats include Loki (8y), all white with golden eyes, and Emily (4y) and Arthur (4y), orange tabby siblings. Emily is petite and short-haired while her brother Arthur looks like a Lion. Sophie (3.5y)–or, Sophia Grace Jade Wattsida [that’s Zuni for ‘dog’, and a pun on my name]–is my Shorkie (Shitzu-Yorkie) buddy. She is small of height but huge in her energy and a totally loving character. I have driven cross-country 3 times already with Sophie. She is a magnificent, all-round companion who loves to vacation at “La Quinta!” hotels. I am humbled to think of how these Souls (Animals are Soul, Too) have sacrificed other possibilities to live with me; especially my “indoor cats” whose whole ‘outer’ life anyways is in our house with one another, me, and our sometimes housemate Gianmichele.

Okay, so there you have a narrative slideshow of my family (the  3 photos together above are They). Pet stories abound in my life. I invite you to send some of your own along, too, so we can swap some Better Endings pet tales this week!