Ever since I was a child, I have felt a deep connection to my K-9 friends. I seem to understand them on a the very basic level in which they think, which translates to a great love for the species. A dogs sole purpose in life is to share unconditional love with its master, and that is simply beautiful. A dog is man's best friend, as they say.
My dog Tucker is... really I'm looking for a word, but I can't seem to find the right one. I'm leaning toward eccentric...? But that sounds weird. Let me describe him: He is a Black Labrador, and people constantly stop me on the street to tell me that he is "beautiful", "gorgeous", and even "majestic". To top his cute little "puppy" look, is his quirky personality. Now, I know it sounds weird to describe a dog like this, but hear me out. He may be a canine, but his human qualities show in his relationships with everyone around him. He takes to certain people, and you can see it instantly. He also expresses emotions and conscious thought in his facial expressions, and physical actions. I can tell when he's mad, or when he's having a great day. We definitely communicate on a telepathic level at times, and I can honestly say that I know exactly what he is thinking, and translate it to English. People think that's weird, but hey, maybe you finish your girlfriends sentences...
Tucker truly is my best friend. Over the past year, having him here in SF with me has been a delightful experience. We have truly become one unit in some aspects, and I love him with all of my heart. He comes most places with me, and I don't like to leave him alone at home because I do miss him when I have to do other things. At times I am not happy with my life, as anyone feels on occasion. Other days I just feel a sense of wonder with life, and try to show my love for the world around me. One thing always remains constant though, and that is the love that I feel emanating from my dog, Tucker. No matter what, he's always there, with those big brown dopey eyes. Always looking up at me for some sort of assurance, some hint of excitement in my own eyes. I give him love, because he taught me what love is.
Just recently I truly discovered what the term "unconditional love" actually means while I was spending time with my Tuck. It was not a bad day for me emotionally or whatever, nor was it an explicitly good day, but simply an average one. I was kneeling and petting T and talking to him. I felt a strong bond, and the vibrant energy of the love that we share. I know that this sounds like some sappy love note BS now, but this is for real. I am a man, and I am expressing my emotions through the written word. I digress, but this is powerful. Anyway, I feel a strong connection to him, because he has helped me become a man in so many ways.
All of my life I have had trouble saving money. My expenditures far exceeded my savings and income, and I constantly lived check-to-check. When I finally got back "out of the hole", so to speak, something happened. Tucker decided to eat some moldy turkey meat that someone had placed in the trash in our kitchen. It was bad. When I say bad, I mean BAD F****NG BAD BAD. Without getting into details, lets just say it cost a good deal of cash when we finally checked out of the local vets office. He was all doped up with pupils the size of dinner plates, and expelled every imaginable bodily fluid from every imaginable orifice in his body for a couple of hours. With every expulsion, a little more of his personality came back though, and all I could do was laugh. We had gotten through all of it. The incident, the sickness, the vets office, and the recovery were over with, and we could get back to the normal routine that I've come to enjoy.
What I learned from all of this is that you have to be prepared for anything, at any time. Instantly, my money spending habits had changed. I could ramble on and on about this for some time, but you get the picture. What I will say though, is that of course "the incident" has strengthened our bond even further.
Before Tucker was here I was also partying pretty hard. I was staying out wayyyyyy too late, almost every night, and constantly worried about how I was going to make out in school. I knew I'd make grades, but I cut it close in a couple of classes. That was an uneasy feeling that I carried with me all of the time. Since Tuck's arrival though, I have relaxed quite a bit, and lost a good deal of weight from all of our exercise together, and focused more on school. I don't like to go out too much anymore, because it takes too much of my energy. Energy that I can devote to my morning walks with my dog, who gives so much love to me for so little in return. I choose to give back to him, and to myself.
Every day we hit the park. Golden Gate Park is a wondrous playland, where I could get lost for days. Having such a place, one block away, in this city, with my dog, just seems so surreal. My life has unfolded in a beautiful way, and I just have to say that I love the direction I'm headed, and can thank Tucker formally for pushing me this way. Every day after our park time we head into work, where he is the shop dog.
People just love the guy. I mean most Asians cower, and part like the red sea as I pass them in my neighborhood with him. At work though, man, the guy gets attention. People show so much love to him because he truly is a beautiful specimen, but he's also so much more.
Lets get deep for a minute... Ok, more like 4 lines.
To put it simply, I find it funny that if you take the word Dog, and reverse the letters, you have the word, God. Now I'm not religious per se, but I do recognize the significance of this synchronicity. I need not say more on this matter, but I'll let your mind wander the possibilities of what that means to you, because I have my own opinions. I'm just going to continue feeding and playing with my dog, and fostering the one love that I can truly say that I "feel" on this sometimes cold planet.
If I'm having one of "those" days, or a good day, I know I can rely on Tucker for some love. Love really is what we're all searching for, right? Ever since our inception, we've been searching for the things that make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even though sometimes we wouldn't admit it. What I recognize is that now I can truly say that I feel it. For the first time ever I feel it in a way that shatters the love I've felt in any human relationships. There is a primal connection between man and beast, which I'm happy to experience on a daily basis. He is another set of eyes, a protector, a confidant, and a friend.
He is Tucker, and he is my best friend.
