Jasper turns 3 today. God I love this dog. Sometimes he barks wildly at pedestrians. He often relishes rolling in the most fetid puddle. He is relentlessly food motivated.
We haven’t trained him perfectly, but I think we didn’t want to. He is still his own creature. I truly wonder at my regard for him. It pains me to think he may not understand how much of a gift his life is to us.
He’s melted our early resolve and slowly earned the right to join us on the sofa. He reminds us to stay a little wild, to be our own creatures. And to love. To embrace the joy of romping through a field of flowers or napping hard in a sunspot.
I hate posts about not writing. Plenty of adventures being had, but I haven’t written about them. I miss that and hope to get back to it soon. One adventure though is just starting: we got a dog and named him Jasper:
His first day with us. Photo by A.
I’ve never had a dog before- it’s awesome. The responsibility is terrifying and frustrating, and confusing. I was skeptical on getting a “designer” dog from a breeder, but even in these first few weeks his calm temperament and natural joyfulness have won me over.
This little dude is game. 100%. Game.
I’ve never enjoyed dog slobber, or picking up poop, even my neighbors dog barking typically draws my ire. My now regular interactions with these things have opened my eyes to how petty I’ve been. To how much I can love something despite the complexity it adds to my life.
Not sure who is on which end of the leash here. Photo by A.
I’ve always tended to frame challenges in metrics: the length of a run or the difficulty of a climb. One great piece of marriage advice I got around our wedding last year: “the point of marriage isn’t about the title or the experience of love- it’s a growth opportunity, for you, to grow in ways that literally no other thing can teach you.” There are no metrics for that. Abigail and I might feed and walk Jasper, but it sure seems like he will end up providing much more for us than we can measure.
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