Unconditional Love

          ‘You’re nobody until somebody loves you.’ I
believe it was Frank who said that. Someone
else said, ‘In order to receive love, you first
have to give it away.’ The hard part about this
is determining who to give your love to without
getting your heart broken in return. A lover?
Maybe, but you can’t always be sure it will be
returned in the spirit it was given. A spouse?
It is a rare and wondrous gift to have
someone to share your life and dreams. But
even in the best of situations differences of
opinions are certain to arise. A child? The
greatest gift to give a child is your love and
acceptance of who they are as an individual.
A friend? Count yourself one of the lucky ones
if you have a friend that would go to the end of
the earth with you. But the most unique and
rarest of loves is unconditional. While it may
be found in any of the examples above, it is
hard for humans to
reciprocate an unconditional love for each
other simply due to our nature.
          Fear not searcher of truth and unconditional
love! Look no further than your own back yard.
Or living room, or perhaps that new white
comforter that cost a fortune. Because no
matter how their day went, you’ll always be
greeted with muddy paw prints on your
clothes, big sloppy kisses, or a leap up to the
counter so their ears are in reach for
scratching. Your pets. They don’t care about
the dishes in the sink, the piles of laundry,
your hairy legs or those last ten pounds. Now
if a lover, spouse, child or friend had a real
problem with any of the aforementioned
examples I’d consider trading for a more
understanding model. But the point is that
pets just don’t care about all the silly things
that people do. They ask for so little and give
so much. Someone once said, ‘Let me be the
kind of person my dog thinks I am.’
         A pet will listen to you drone on endlessly
about your horrible boss and how he fails to
see your true greatness. Your cat will sit at
home on a Saturday night and watch Working
Girl while your spouse is at work. When your
child becomes the alien that all teenagers
morph into your pet won’t beg for a nose ring
or purple hair because ‘Jane’s mother lets
her!’. And when your best friend has to visit
her in-laws, your dog is ready and willing to
take a walk in the park!
         You will never get an argument out of your
pet, they know you’re always right! You can
tell your pet anything, I mean anything, and it
will never leave the circle of trust. They know
you’re the best driver on the road. They know
you’re the only sane person in your family.
They keep your feet warm in the winter, and
listen to you cry. In your pets eyes you are a
hero. And most importantly, they’ll never tell
where you stashed the cookies!