Transitions and Scary Things

Since we brought Tuc home, I've been thinking a lot about transitions -- those changes we walk through as life plods on.

Let's face it: change is as much a part of life as birth, death, taxes, joy, and sorrow.

And change can be scary.

Look at the changes Tuc's faced this week: leaving the only home and family he'd ever known, being stuffed into a pet carry-on for 7 hours, traveling thousands of miles, exchanging the dry heat of AZ for the ridiculous humidity of southeastern PA (and, yes, we're in another heat wave with heat indices in the 100s again this week), trading the desert for our suburban backyard, meeting a bunch of other big dogs, sleeping in a crate all night, potty-training (housebreaking), eating dry food, and learning to love new humans (and lots of them, no less).

It's been a wild week for him, with loads of losses and gains. But he's taken it in stride with confidence, appropriate hesitation, remarkable buoyancy, resiliency, and what appears to be a sense of humor (yup, believe it or not).

His most timid moments involved meeting Snickers, the Cat (something completely foreign to him, I think) and Baxter (something huge, looming, and dark). Take a look:








I'll bet this stuff intimidated the little guy (at least his body language said it did). But he got through it, adjusted, and moved on with confidence (not to mention a broader experience base upon which he can draw later).

I wish human types were as pliable. It takes us so much longer to accept change and learn to embrace it. Regular Reader knows we've being navigating all kinds of foreign, dark unknowns over the last nine months, and I feel like I'm only just beginning to regain a measure of confidence and resiliency. Frankly, I still want to hide and pretend the uglies aren't there.

Let somebody else deal with them.

But brave little Tuc reminds me that change, even frightening transitions, can be handled well, with confidence, and with an ultimately beneficial-for-us outcome. Tuc is growing because of his transitions.

I suspect I will, too, if I just give it time.

'Til next time,
Joan