After nearly fifteen years of begging, pleading and shameless bargaining, Angie finally caved and agreed to let the family get a dog.  She took a few weeks to research exactly what type of breed she wanted.  Once she relayed this information, it took me even less time to find a breeder, put down a deposit and make the 8-hour trip to Amish country, Pennsylvania, and back with Bailey: our brand new Cavalier King Charles puppy.  (I wanted to pull the trigger on this transaction as quickly as possible, in the off-chance Angie decided to change her mind.)

Bailey instantly became a beloved member of the family.  She has been a joy to have and adds another level of happiness to our lives every day.  Even the puppy stage wasn’t as bad as I thought it would have been.   Among all of her endearing traits, such as not barking, not shedding and even sleeping like a human (parallel on the bed with her head on the pillow), she has one characteristic that trumps them all.

I’m referring to her greeting.  Anyone who has come to our house in the last year and a half knows what I’m talking about.  She gives anyone who darkens our doorway a hero’s welcome and will wag her tail and kiss our guest until he or she tells her to stop.  Family members are no exception to this.  Angie, Kayla, Tyler and myself all get this same treatment when we come home.  What others may not know is that this greeting is standard, not only for each individual guest, but also for every time the door opens.  I could be gone for days or minutes.  It doesn’t matter.  The same greeting that Bailey gives me when I return from a trip of a few days is the same greeting she gives me when I return from putting a letter in our mailbox.  And each time, it makes me feel good.

I share this story, not to keep you from ever visiting us if you’re not a dog lover, but because I think there is a lesson to be learned from Bailey (and most dogs) when it comes to this kind of behavior.  Our front door has been opened thousands of times since we got Bailey.  Her commitment to greeting each person with a genuine enthusiasm has not wavered once.  She has stayed true to this practice every single time.

I wish I practiced this more in my own life.  I wish I still got excited and overflowed with joy from the routine occurrences that take place every day in my life.  We can approach each day by just going through the motions, doing the same job we always do, hanging out with the same people we always hang out with and keeping the same schedule we always keep.  Or…we can celebrate the fact that we have a job to do!  We can appreciate more deeply the people we have in our lives!  We can rejoice in the fact that our schedules are full and that we have people to see and places to go!

So often, it is not the circumstances that become mundane.  It is all in the way we choose to view them.  I’m going to take a page out of Bailey’s book and try to approach each person, place and circumstance with the unbridled joy and excitement that comes from simply being allowed to do so.  Every experience in our lives can be viewed as a blessing or a bother.  Bailey has shown me which one I want to choose.