Midori, my Beagle, is staring at me with her beautiful almond shaped brown eyes. I love how she looks with her white face. I think that the white face gives her a very dignified look. My cute little dignified baby Beagle.
Her intent gaze is one of her tricks. She can bark to ask for the piece of food that I’m about to put in my mouth but she knows that the gaze is enough for me to give her this treat. So I toss it over to her which she catches. She’s great at catching food. She never misses.
“Thank you,” she says.
“You’re welcome” I reply. I look around and make sure nobody sees me speak to my dog.
“What’s up with you today?” she says. “You look glum.”
“I had a bad day at work,” I say with a sigh, “I didn’t prepare well for a presentation and it tanked. Now I feel like shit because I knew I should have prepared better for that presentation!”
Midori jumps onto the couch and walks over to me, puts her paw on my shoulder and starts licking my face.
“I love you.” She says.
“I love you too.”
Now it’s my turn to stare at her.
She steps away, sits and starts to ask. “What?” tilting her head to the side.
“Midori,” I say “What do you think of me … as a father - I mean?”
“Oh daddy,” she says rolling her eyes. “You know I can’t answer that question. We dogs don’t think. We can only feel.”
“I never put any thought on how you are as my daddy,” she pauses and then starts again, “Let me answer that question differently. I can't think of how you are as my Daddy but I can tell you how I feel about you. And I always feel the same. When you’re around … when you’re not around … when I eat … when I pee … when we take our walk … I just always feel love for you.”
I get emotional and start crying. I ask, “How Midori? How can you just feel love for me and nothing else?”
She licks my face again and whispers, “How can I not? Our creator made all of us with the power of love and therefore all creatures of this earth is filled with love.”
“And daddy, let me tell you a secret, even you are filled with love. Everything else that you see and feel that is not love is just an illusion.”
“Here is proof: Come and hug me and just feel what happens."
I hug her. I hug Midori and close my eyes. I can feel her heartbeat and I can also feel our love for each other. We both just sit there as I hug her tenderly. At that moment, I think and feel, this moment is enough. I am enough. Love is enough. Love is all there is.