Molly left on a Tuesday morning, sitting on the front seat of a big yellow Ryder moving van. It felt as if the sunshine was momentarily sucked out of the day. Finnegan noticed the dejected tilt of his human's head. Trotting over he pushed his muzzle between her shins, pressing hard against her with his shoulders.
"Human Woman," he whispered. "Tell me what you learned."
"Oh, Finnie," she sighed, reaching an index finger down to his right ear, curling it around the velvety edge the way he liked. "So very much. She wasn't even my dog! But she charged into my heart and knocked me over with her joy."
"And?" He pushed a little harder, wanting her to speak the lesson out loud.
"She taught me to own my joy."
"Yes? Do you get it now?"
He backed up, giving her his full attention. He knew her love for Molly, the little gold and white corgi she had been walking for a friend, had never detracted from her love for him. Molly simply arrived to hammer home the lesson he had been trying to teach his human all year long. Her hands shook as she petted him. Her eyes filled with the shine of tears but something more, the shine of certainty. She nodded and scritched at his white ruff. He wiggled into her fingers, loving the feel of it. They both chuckled. Then she told him what he wanted to hear.
"Molly showed me her best. Every. Single. Second. She lived her joy because she owned it. When I was with her, it was the most incredible, kinetic energy between us. She truly lived in the moment. And being in the moment with Molly felt like sunshine. It dawned on me that I had that same sunshine in me. But I cover it up. To protect it from unhappy people in my life. And that was my 'Get'. The moment I understood it's time to own my joy out loud. Time to start walking away from snipers, the way Molly turns her back on unfriendly dogs and just keeps going. So each day I ask myself, 'What would Molly do?' and I know the answer at once!"
"Own your joy!" Finnegan woofed.
She nodded and her smile lit up his world. "Exactly. Be a Molly. Fluff your tail."
"Well...um," he glanced over his shoulder at his nub. "If you have one."
"Each of us has a tail, Finnie, it just takes some of us a little longer to wag it."
He sat and smiled up at her. Finally, she understood what corgis already know. You are you. Get out there and get going. Walk forward. Hold your head up and fluff your tail or your nub or your ass. If someone takes a swipe at you, just keep walking. Because there's a Molly right around the next corner, wanting to meet you, greet you, play with you, and share your sunshine.
More rain. Cotton candy clouds spilling down the mountainsides for days kept bringing a pervasive, wet chill into the world. Finnegan was decidedly displeased. Walking in the rain was not to his liking. Neither, he discovered, was walking during a snowfall. Snow, he informed his Human Woman, was still rain, no matter if Mother Nature tried to dress it up in soft, white, fluffy camouflage. Snow melted in his eyes and on his head leaving wet spots, ergo, it was rain.
But a Corgi has gotta pee when a Corgi has gotta pee, so rain and snow cannot matter when the "business" end of things gets urgent. What did matter was the location of the bush nearest the front door. THAT mattered.
"When will the sun come out to play?" he asked plaintively, staring through the slats of the patio railing after their wet morning jaunt.
"Soon, little Olympian, soon. It went on vacation for the holidays, but it should be home sometime this week. The weatherman said so."
"Where does the sun go for vacation?" his limpid coffee eyes gazed up at her.
"Tahiti," she said decisively.
"Ta-hee-tee. Maybe we should go there with the sun next time it takes a vacation." Finnegan sounded wistful.
"That's a very good idea. Here's another one: let's get inside out of this chill and I'll make you some bacon. A warm little treat, sort of like sunshine for your tummy."
He scampered through the open door, chortling with happiness. "Sunshine for my tummy? You're so silly, Human Woman! Baconbaconbacon...."
The refrain continued until much later when, after some yummy bacon, he nestled down in his Scooby Doo bed with his soft fleece blanket and prepared for his 11am nap. He looked up at her quickly before dipping his nose down into the blanket.
"Thank you for the sunshine," his eyes glowed with happiness.
She smiled. The soggy outside world faded to nothing. Her boy, warm and sturdy in his little nest, his tummy full of bacon, had brought the sun inside with his contentment.
