National Comadres Newsletter #18 (November 2021)
Unconditional Love: “Well, I want you to know that dogs are here to eat, sleep, poop and repeat.” Those are the words that I was told by the vet just before having to make one of the hardest decisions of my life; to end the life of one of my beloved companions. “Don’t listen to him mìja, that’s not true, she was so much more than that to you,” it’s okay mom, he’s just trying to tell me that her time is up and that her time has come.” That was my way of justifying his callous way of explaining that there was nothing more that he could do.
I will never forget how I justified those words instead of defending one of the most beloved companions God has ever blessed me with. She was sacred to me, a true divine gift that I felt unworthy of having the honor to share life with. I was given a task and an opportunity to protect, love, feed, house, groom, and take care of this precious creature and to help heal her from her trauma and neglect. It was my job to make sure that she was not alone and had a purpose in this world. It was my job to give her a life that allowed for her to practice her innate instincts as a dog: to hunt, dig, protect her surroundings, and bark to warn me when she sensed danger and threat. It was my job to show her that she had purpose in this world and that her existence meant so much more than just eat, sleep, poop and repeat.
Her name was Dayla, and though it was my job to provide all that she needed to fulfill her purpose and meaning for existing. She innately protected me from anyone she felt was a threat by placing herself in-between myself and anyone that approached me negatively, she loved me unconditionally when I couldn’t love myself, she gave me purpose when I felt I had none, she brought me comfort and calmness in the midst of my storms, she gave me strength when I felt weak, she gave me the desire to keep pushing forward when I wanted to give up and she lifted my spirits when anxiety and sadness consumed me.
Dayla, honorably surpassed her purpose as she brought healing to my life from the emotional trauma I experienced over the fifteen and a half years of her life. She saved me from me, and I will forever feel honored to have been given the blessing and gift of her sacred purpose and unconditional love. We are all created in such a form that binds and connects us as one throughout our existence. All that God has created has purpose and, in His creation, we find healing, comfort, growth, sometimes pain, and in all things love.
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