Beauty and Love

I've realized, once again, that beauty is not skin or fur-deep. Seeing beauty comes from the soul.

I first met Shyla about six weeks after K's death. That's the soonest that I've ever invited a new dog into my life after a death. In retrospect, it probably was too soon but the stars aligned in such a way that I knew that Shyla was meant to be with us.

However, for my heart, it wasn't easy. Shyla was an almost-adult dog who lacked life experience and had many fears. Because she wasn't a tiny puppy, I irrationally thought that she "should" be like K. Indeed, I was reduced to tears more than once as I wished with all my heart that Shyla was K. That's a terrible admission to make to anyone - but it's the heart-wrenching truth.

Of course, I cared for Shyla immediately and wanted to help her. However, that's different from having a deep bond with her.

Today I realized that I haven't compared Shyla and K even once in recent memory. I will miss K forever but this incredible young dog has stolen my heart. She has her own soul, mind, and personality - and our bond has grown to a level that I didn't think would ever be possible again.

One of the awful things that I said in those first weeks after I met Shyla was that she wasn't as beautiful as K. In retrospect, I realize that my perception of beauty depends on the depth of my love. Now, in every sense of the word, Shyla is beautiful to me. I see it every time I look at her. She melts my heart.

I've seen how sweet she is with people, both me and others. She has an intuition about what I need - she naturally knows when to rest her head on my knee, lean into a hug, or snuggle with me.

She goes to my Physical Therapy appointments with me, and she has become a clinic favorite. Employees and patients both adore her for her sensitive and loving spirit. I even get asked to introduce her to specific patients who might enjoy having their appointments lightened up by meeting Shyla. She's still working on being comfortable with strangers so her "intuition" about what specific people need is not perfect yet. But, I can see that it will grow strong with time and more life experience.

As you may be able to tell from these photos, Shyla and I watched the sun rise into clear skies together this morning - one of my favorite things in the world. It was very cold and a winter wind buffeted us. My fingers rapidly became blocks of ice as I tried to capture Shyla's beauty with my camera. The snow swirling around Shyla in the photo above and stuck to her face in many of the photos is from blowing snow, not fresh snowfall.

The amazing thing is how Shyla and I both love to be outdoors in our mountains, no matter what the conditions. I never needed to teach Shyla to love the mountains - it was part of her soul from Day One with us. Her name means "Daughter of the Mountains", and it suits her perfectly.

Today, as I pedaled and she ran on the snowy trails, we enjoyed our harsh but gorgeous mountain trails together. And, every time I looked at Shyla, I saw incredible beauty.

P.S. My internet has been very erratic since our storms so I apologize in advance if I can't post or visit blogs.