Happiness Challenge – Maturity
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT
Here is Rosebud who I share with a family in Haines. She needed surgery to fix her salivary gland that had burst and was filling a sac below her chin. She made the trip south to get this fixed. She is heading back north the end of the month.
Doing the “right” thing for me feels like happiness. Allowing myself this privilege is my measure of maturity. It’s beating to my own drummer in my own way eskewing what “tradition” dictates I “should” do that brings me the most enduring joy.
I have had my own pet since I was 13. My parents said if I could figure out how to get my own miniature toy poodle and could figure out how to cover all the expenses for it, I could have a dog. None of us realized that would happen in a matter of days, but it also coincided with me getting a newspaper route that helped me pay for her care as well. It brings me great happiness to be able to care for these beings in my charge this way. It is who I am.
I’ve had dogs ever since. Every once in a while one of my dogs finds its way to being a pet for some other family who needs her (myriad reasons – spouse passes, kids become attached when they are dog sitting and some tragedy happens in the family, etc). I’m very good with puppies and have a knack for creating very loving dog companions. So usually when I release one of these pets to another family, within a year or so I am blessed with my next puppy.
Yet I do still help these families care for these pets – especially when something happens to the dog where it requires significant medical care. I’ve had people admonish me for this level of care taking as this is not their custom – but really who shares their beloved pets with others in need anyhow? I do this level of sharing and care taking for one reason – it brings me satisfaction and I feel for me it is the right thing to do.
Being enthusiastically engaged requires the maturity to follow the path right for me, regardless of convention.
