I, like many folks, have a dog.  We have had a dog in my family for many years, since before my kids were born actually.  My wife and I joke that Cabot (our first dog, a 100lb labradoodle) was our first child, and our best behaved.  After he passed, we adopted a 5 year old goldendoodle named Charlie. Charlie is a character, and because we adopted him, the first year was full of surprises as he showed us what he had learned (or not learned) from his previous owners.  But regardless of how many socks he chewed, how often he got into the garbage, or even the fact that he learned how to open the pantry doors and get at the kids lunch snacks, he is always there to greet us with a wagging tail and boundless excitement.  There are a lot of lessons we can learn from our pets. As we approach Spring, and as it is a time of rebirth and renewal, I am encouraging my family, and all of us, to think about renewing our outlook on life. To worry less, be more positive, and assume the best intentions of all.  I suppose, what I am trying to say is, “ be more dog”.  I am going to try to be more like Charlie; happy to see everyone, no matter what they did or said the day before, take joy in every taste, smell, and sense I have, breathe deeply, run and play when I can, and nap often.

I was inspired to write this after watching a video advertisement for a company called O2, it is pretty cute: https://goo.gl/ge9z2P.  While I mean no disrespect to cat people, as I really do love all pets (I even had a cat once) I can’t help but wonder what our world would be like if we were all just a little more like Charlie.  Okay, maybe not Charlie, but you get it. 😉  Have a great start to Spring.