This Boy

My parents were recently out of town for a week & being the good neighbors that we are, we took care of their animals. During this time I began walking Rocky, their ten (?) year old German Shepherd. We always had dogs growing up & they were always German Shepherds...Elk, Siva, Poo-Bear, Baron, Bandit - oh, the dogs that I have loved that have been laid to rest. Rocky was abused prior to coming to our family. I never became attached to him the way that I am known to do with dogs because he came later in my life...I was just not around. Plus, he just wasn't your typical dog. He was afraid and rather than giving him love & attention I basically just was annoyed by him. However, that has all changed in a big way. I have since been walking him 1 to 2 times each day. In fact, I look forward to walking him more than I look forward to anything else right now. Cruching through the leaves with him and Roxy has really helped slow me down. I feel more at peace inside. I am finding this to be extremely therapeutic. Rocky's hips are bad, but I can see that he is doing so much better with all the walking. I even run with him! We don't over do it, but we definitely incorporate the running each time we walk. I can feel that we are falling in love with each other. He needs love (his roommate in the kennel is Mick who is the only non-German Shepherd dog (he is an Australian Shepherd) my parents have had is not very nice to Rocky)...and I need to love him. He lets me hug him and pet him and he comes to me now which you have no idea how long that took! Every day I do important things...maintain my relationships, run the business, go to my chamber events...but, somehow walking this boy seems like the most important thing I'm doing. I know when I look back on this time in my life, this season of sadness and wanting...that I will always remember this boy...this boy that heals my heart everytime I let him out of his kennel.