Endless Love

There's little doubt that when I'm gone and people think about me, if they do, one of two images will immediately come to mind:  the crazed Steelers fan or the crazy dog lady.   Maybe both, but, be honest, not much else will immediately spring to mind.  So, on a week when real football began, it was a given that I would talk about the Steelers, right?  Well, the crazy dog lady part of me will be taking over and controlling the show temporarily because two rather dramatic events took place in our household recently that got me to thinking...

First, there was the loss and then nearly miraculous recovery of Kelsey's cat Tum Tum after she slipped out one night and was gone for three weeks.  And then, my oldest pet, Luke, took his journey to the Rainbow Bridge on Friday.  Both events combined as a sort of perfect storm to crowd out all other thoughts - Pirates losing streaks, badly behaving running backs, a disastrous fantasy football roster (thanks so much, Wes Welker, another dumbass heard from), and Sidney Crosby false arrest reports.  None of it mattered that much really in the larger scale of life and death that was playing out at our house.

And what it equated to was the contemplation of unconditional love and whether it truly exists in the world.  My thesis here is that it does.  But not by us as humans.  We're not geared that way, and for good reason.  We may be empathetic, we may be compassionate, we may be saints in the making, but at some core level we're self interested parties.  Because it's what we have to be to survive.  So, can unconditional love truly exist in tandem with that?  Maybe, but I've never seen it in another human being, and I've known some exceptional ones.  But I've seen it.  And I've been the recipient of it - whether I deserved to be or not (and I most certainly did not).  If you ever want to know why humans have pets, it's because no one - and I do absolutely mean no one - loves you like your pet. 

The thing about pets is they accept you without conditions.  They don't care if you're fat or thin, the smartest tool in the shed or maybe a little dull around the edges.  They don't worry if you don't put on makeup or could really stand to put that favorite lucky shirt through the wash.  Hair turning a little gray and seeing some new wrinkles around the eyes?  Don't worry, your pet won't care.  He or she won't leave you because of it or "stray" (pun completely intended).  They stay by your side through good times and bad.  I think about the default wedding vows that many of us have said and hardly any of us completely live by:  in good times and bad, sickness and health, 'till death do you part...those vows, you know.  Well, our pets actually take that all to heart.  I'm not sure we deserve them actually, but I for one am better for my pets.  And they really, really don't care if your team wins or loses.  So, I'll continue to risk the heartache and pain of losing one because of all the joy, acceptance and love they give me.

And with that, as we celebrate the return of Kelsey's beloved companion Tum Tum, I'll say a final goodbye to our old, old man Luke.  His gentle, quiet and patient ways will be missed in a house full of high strung females.