Companionship

About a month ago, my husband noticed a dirty, skinny, furry, but cute, dog outside his brother's house. The dog caught his eye because she looked quite innocent and hungry. For days this dog would wander in front of my brother-in-law's house searching for food. We slowly started to gather compassion for her as we tried to feed her, gave her water, and finally managed to pet her without her cowering away. This dog is now our pet and we have named her Pina. Pina is very mysterious to me because she is so different than our other dogs. Maybe it's because she is an indoor dog or maybe it's because she is so much smaller than a pitbull and a lab mixed with german shepard, but Pina is very interesting. One thing that all our dogs do have in common though, is that they all long for human companionship. They love being around us and my outdoor dogs cry when I haven't gone to hang out with them for days. When we go for a walk they get so excited that they behave well and sit at the front gate waiting for us to put the leash on. Pina follows me around the house when we are home alone. She even wants to follow me into the bathroom, but I don't let her because I feel too awkward. She doesn't care what I'm doing, she just wants to be next to me and sits down next to me by the computer, by the kitchen sink, outside the bathroom door, next to the couch. When she is home alone and hears me coming she jumps so high in the air it's amazing to believe her short legs can resist. Watching my dogs has made me realize that life is not meant to be lived alone. That statement is true for animals as much as humans. There's something so interesting about life that makes us want to share it with others, and no life is better lived than one full of companionship.

Our Fridge Says It All

My grandmother is in desperate need of a new refrigerator. Every time we visit her in El Salvador, we notice that the food only lasts two days in there and the coolness of the fridge is not very cold at all. On one of our trips to the stores, we showed her some new refrigerators and asked her which one she would like. She pointed at all the small ones and laughed when we showed her a two door fridge and said, "that is for a restaurant or a business, not a house!" I'm sure my grandmother would be surprised if she saw what some Americans call "refrigerators". They are enormous and they fit so much inside. I struggle to make our fridge look full, but I've notice other people with big refrigerators can't seem to find enough space in theirs. It makes me wonder....do they really eat all that food? As I was thinking about this a commercial rolled through my TV screen for Kenmore refrigerators. It showed how big and efficient the fridge is in fitting everything a human can possibly think of. It made me kind of sad, to tell you the truth, b ecause I started wondering how many people actually eat all the food they purchase. How much of that food goes in the trash? How much of that food is a luxury instead of a necessity? Eating is good, I'm not saying it isn't, but taking more than we need leaves other people with less than what they need to survive. How many Americans have over sized refrigerators leading them into obesity while my grandmother struggles with her old fridge and barely manages to feed her family? If you need all the space, then go ahead and take it, but be mindful that the earth has limited resources and we were called to share with one another. The richer on man gets, the poorer another will be.

Flat Tire on the Road

There are many things in life to be happy about. There are endless amounts of blessings coming my way every second. Hope is lingering through thick and thin... But, at the moment, hope has a flat tire. All my life I have been a student. I got good grades, dreamed about college, and then actually went to college and graduated. It was a fairy tale, but, like all fairy tales, it came crashing down in the end burning through all hope and happiness...oh, wait, I'm supposed to say I lived happily ever after, huh? Did Cinderella and Prince Charmin actually live happily ever after? Did Belle and the Beast really manage to build a happy life together in which nothing was ever ugly again? No, I'm sure there is a sequel to every fairy tale with a new villain and a new problem, because as much as we would like to live in bliss, life is a road with speed bump after speed bump. My lovely car of hope has a flat tire right now because like thousands of other Americans, I am unemployed in a terrible economy. Instead of cheering up, things just seem to make me sadder, but this is a speed bump. With every bit of effort I have left, I have to tell myself that this is just a flat tire and I will be able to patch it up or replace it sometime soon, or maybe even sometime not soon, but eventually. I have to tell myself there is still a happy ending for me even if I can't see it. There are many things to be happy about. There are endless amounts of blessings coming my way every second. Hope is lingering through thick and thin... but, how long to sing this song, Lord, how long?