Steve Brewer

Do you ever have one of those moments where you encounter someone that says something that is so true that it causes you to smile with a knowing that you couldn’t articulate before.  It happened to my wife and I a couple of months ago when we were walking our golden retriever Lola in the neighborhood.  We were passing a house where a woman was getting into her car, but she couldn’t resist coming out to meet us.  It wasn’t really my wife and I she was coming to meet.  It was Lola.  She immediately says, “You sweet sack of sugar”.  It was such a powerful and pure statement.  It got straight to the essence of Lola and everything that she embodies in such a way that I have yet to be able to articulate in such an impactful way.  And it made us laugh – even better!

This is part ode to Lola.  She is so full of love.  She is “sweet and sugar”.  If you have a dog, I am pretty sure you know what I am talking about.  She shows us that we can greet everyone with love and enthusiasm.  Even those dogs that are snarling at us and wanting to tear our throats out.   

When she sees someone or another dog walking in the neighborhood, she immediately throws the emergency brake on and plops down hoping and waiting patiently for them to come by.  My wife likes to say that she just wants them to say how beautiful she is.  She isn’t wrong; check out this photo below.

Lola was not intended to be the sage in this story.  Yet she is.  She can throw up a mirror that allows me to reflect on what is going on in my life.  She somehow knows and articulates that it is more important to smell the roses than trying to get that full exercise in for the day.  To be present with the current moment.  Life is so much more than striving to be your best self all the time.  It might be grateful for the situation we are in or connecting with something else going on bigger than us.  The only way we know is to stop and pause for just a moment.  We can accept what is, even if we are covered in mud or pollen during the spring pine pollen season

She is also a “sack”.  We think she pretends that her legs don’t work sometimes.  She just drops down on her side in a big patch of luscious, thick green grass that does look like a great place to take a nap if I am being honest.  The eyes close immediately like she is playing possum.  Then they open and side-eye you while the head is still laying in the grass, almost as if you can read her mind: I hope they think I am asleep.  Maybe they will go for it this time. 

She also helps me to put certain things in perspective.  She is afraid of the most innocuous things.  The other night she was barking at a tall weed blowing in the wind.  It was dark and she obviously couldn’t see.  She assumed it was something to be afraid of.  When I walked her, possibly dragged her, up to it and let her sniff it she realized this was nothing to be afraid of.  Where in my life am I afraid of the weed blowing in the wind that appears to be something else? 

So, who is the sage in this too long and rambling story?  The neighbor of course.  I am grateful for the wisdom of that neighbor.  I believe there are sages among us.  I can’t wait to see her again to thank her for her wisdom and way of expressing who Lola is.  I hope we all have our moments where we are the sage for others.  We may never notice those moments; and maybe that is the way it should be.  How about we operate from a source of grace and kindness to others.  To let go of judgement of others.  I am not suggesting we try to be a sage or inspiration, but if we intentionally operate from a generosity of spirit we might touch someone or maybe make them laugh and lift their spirits when they need it.  If we offer up a kindness that shows the other person that we see them, then maybe we impact them in ways we could never have expected.

This reminds me of the poem I shared a while ago.  The guest house by Rumi where the core message, to me at least, is that there are teachers among us every day.  But this also makes me think of that poem from the opposite viewpoint which I had not considered before.  That we can be the guest showing up at someone else’s house.  We can be the positive or the negative experience that someone has.  Which will we choose?  I hope positive.

So thank you to Lola and our neighbor for giving us “the sweet sack of sugar”.