Unconditional Love

In a book I'm currently reading, entitled, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life, by Parker Palmer, he says, "The people who help us grow toward true self offer unconditional love, neither judging us to be deficient nor trying to force us to change but accepting us exactly as we are.  And yet this unconditional love does not lead us to rest on our laurels.  Instead, it surrounds us with a charged force field that makes us want to grow from the inside out--a force field that is safe enough to take the risks and endure the failures that growth requires."  P. 60.

So it was with Suzy.  No matter if I was up and happy or down and sad, Suzy always made me feel glad we were together, and nothing much mattered after that.  By providing such acceptance and love, she always made me feel glad to be alive.  She exuded such joy that my heart sang any time I was around her.  Some people have that effect on others, too.  Have you ever noticed?  It takes a special person (and a special pet) to radiate that kind of warmth and kindness.  Truly, from the heart and a rarity at that.

The poet, Rainer Maria RIlke wrote of "the love that consists in this, that two solitudes protect and border and salute each other."  P. 62  In other words, each person respects and trusts the other in conversation and in solitude.  Without trying to judge, fix or criticize the other.  Let them be.  As they are.  Who they are.  Suzy did this for me and I for her.  We respected each other totally and completely and were free to be who we truly were.  For this I thank her most appreciatively.

She taught me more about life than any book, teacher, speaker or guru.  She taught me about the most precious quality of all:  how to love and be loved.