YUKI!

A few months after we got Yuki, we received an email from the Vice President of the Humane Society where we got Yuki telling us that she was working on a book that she wanted Yuki to be featured in. The book is tentatively titled A is for Angel: A Dog-Lover's Guide to the Alphabet. Each spread will feature a large photo of a dog whose name begins with a specific letter of the alphabet. Yuki will be the "Y" dog. So, we were asked to write something about Yuki which will be included in the book. We don't know for sure if the book will get published or not, but either way, I am glad I was given the opportunity to put into words what Yuki means to us. Here's what I submitted:

Yuki loves life. For her, the daily routines of life are events to look forward to and to celebrate. She has taught us the beauty of welcoming every moment as if it were a gift. I mean even the moment in the car, when without warning Yuki looked us straight in the eyes and pooped in the back seat. With Yuki (and in life) you can have the perspective that what you see is what you get. Oh, but Yuki has taught us that there is so much more than meets the eye and that what you don't see is what you don't get. Wonder is waiting around every corner. Each smell and sight and sound contains worlds within it. And if you stare into the abyss of Yuki's eyes, those windows to treasure houses of mischevious love, I think you'll see, as we have, a small child laughing. There are times we're convinced she's hoarding in the folds of her skin stubborn wisdom. The kind which (like Yuki) may not come easily or quickly, but if asked to will eventually come. The kind of wisdom that says: Don't be afraid to contain multitudes. Yuki certainly isn't. She is Sharpei, she is Shephard, part terror, part teacher. Her lessons: forgive often, love well, and dig IT all! And we like to think, as many dog owners do, that she's also part human, the source of great destruction and tender healing. Though she is undoubtedly one of the clumsiest dogs I have ever seen, sometimes when I see her running towards me, those ears floppin' and that skin flappin', as she barrels clumsily into me, licking my face, I think I am witnessing pure Grace. And what a gift it is, that every day we are given the opportunity to love something that loves us back.