# 600. Just until the door.

This is post # 600. And probably the slowest century I have made. :) And to commemorate it, I have a story to share. Something that happened one winter ago, but even now, even in this next winter, warms my heart...

As part of my work, I had to visit a farmhouse for some accounting. And being a farmhouse, there were some animals there, of which there were also 3 dogs. Two of them were still puppies, and one was pretty old and quite blind too, and if I am not mistaken, all three were collies. Now everytime my car pulled into the driveway, they would hear and come bounding rapidly from whichever part of the backyard they were in and bark around my car. Now I love dogs. I really do. But the sight of the three of them, nay two of them (for the blind, black one would just walk more leisurely behind the other two), on that high energy mode right outside Buddy, always had me tensing up for a quick second. I would always pray before I got out, and then walk casually upto the door. They would watch and follow me all the way through. The other 2 were actually very shy and would never let me pet them, especially this one golden one. He would always back out of reach if I tried to touch him, in that he was quite touchy. :) But the old blind girl was really sweet. She loved the attention, she loved the touch and would enjoy it liberally till the front door, and once I was inside, I would actually miss them. And everytime I went to work there, I always started out with that little fear and then start to relax as I got out and they kept their distance.

Now there was this one time, when I had to go back after a long gap. And I was once again a little stressed at the thought of countering that fear again. Moreover it was fiercely cold and the roads were pretty icy, and driving in those conditions always has me a bit tensed at the wheel. I turned into their driveway, and looked in horror as the entire path was layered with a thick coat of ice. It literally was like an ice rink. How was I going to walk that slight stretch from the car to the door, and that too with the dogs bounding up and down??? I was quite petrified with the ice, and paranoid of falling ever since my fracture fall. And that day, the prayer inside the car, was not just about the dogs, it was about the ice too. And making it safely across, carrying my purse as well as the big files, and taking each step without any other support.

I got out, and the black, blind one was sitting in a basket snugly in the garage. It was the end of her time, I was told earlier, and she wasn't moving much these days. I felt a little sad seeing her that way, but focussed my attention back to my own steps. Of the two pups, the golden one, the one who never liked being touched, was watching me from a few yards away. I wasn't even aware of him much, as I prayed and took a step, prayed and took a step....! And suddenly, he was there, right there next to me, snuggling against my right leg. The fear suddenly came back, together with the already tight knot that had built inside me, and I felt a moment of irritation as I wondered why he was doing that. Why couldn't he leave me alone like all the other days? But he wouldn't budge. He followed my every step with a step of his own, but pressing his golden body against my leg, his tail wagging. I almost slipped on the ice a few times, so precarious was each step, but in about 15 steps, made it to the door. And just as soon as we reached the door and I held the handle firmly for support, he bounded instantly away from me, joining his companion under a tree, a few metres away.

And that's when it hit me. It was in the abruptness of his departing, that I understood why he had 'dog-gedly' accompanied me. He had sensed my fear of falling. He k.n.e.w it. He just knew it. And he had helped me get safely across, lending me the weight of his body for support against my shaky leg, taking each step with me all the way till I got to a point of safety, where I was breathing easy again. He k.n.e.w it. And to this day, it takes my breath away and leaves my eyes moist.

How much I had been loved by this little pup? How much I had feared him, as the more spirited among the 3 dogs? How much he had taught me about selfless giving in the matter of 15 steps, and that one single action of walking away at just the right time? I may not have understood his intent, if he had not left me, that abruptly, at the precise moment my hand reached out for the door handle. How wordlessly, he had explained it all to me, without even trying? I went inside, completely overwhelmed, my life completely overturned in that one single moment, and cried fresh tears. It was a release of all that pent up tension, and experience of that pure, pure love of the Universe.

So this # 600 is an ode to this little beautiful golden collie, who has given me one of the most precious memories I will have with an animal. And hopefully, a little ounce of inspiration for all of us, as we plough on with the January of a new year, filled with the hope of better things, and of righting many wrongs. If we give as   lovingly, as this little dog did, both to ourselves and the people in our lives, and to the Universe at large, we might just have a year worth reckoning!