Unconditional Love

               He has big black eyes and a small flat nose cute as a button.  He tries to act cool and not show any emotion.  When he sees me put my coat on, he follows me and waits for me to say goodbye; and when I come back, he is at the door, waiting to welcome me home.  I get angry with him sometimes, and I might yell at him.  He just walks away, glancing back at me with those big black sad eyes.  As soon as I calmly call his name, he runs and sits next to me waiting to be caressed.

               He is quiet most if not all the time.  He doesn’t say much but his love towards me shows in everything he does; from staring at me adoringly to his happy trot next to mine.  Sometimes he doesn’t eat his food and I have to hand feed him; but if I put some boiled chicken in his bowl, he will happily and eagerly inhale it.

               When he pinched a nerve on his back, I faithfully gave him his medication.  He didn’t like taking it and acted hard to get, so, I had to shove it his mouth.  He travelled with me to Greece and Florida and happily came along.  It didn’t matter where he was as long as he was with me.  He did not like being left alone at my mother’s apartment, and I almost lost him.  He got trapped at the grocery store next door, and I was able to grab him.  I got mad at him and spanked him on his butt.   He turned his head and looked at me sadly with those big eyes as if saying: “I’m sorry mommy”. 

               He has a large basket full of stuffed toys and when he gets bored, he takes each and every one of them out.  On occasion, my family room floor is full of his toys and I have to hop to get around them.  I try to put them back in the basket but he takes them out again or tries to grab them from my hand.  So I put them away when he is sleeping or when he is outside and I hope he won’t have his extra sensory hearing and wake up or run back inside to stop me. 

               I cannot take his blanket away.  It’s his.  He gets upset when I put it in the wash; but he is very happy and drags it on the floor as soon as I take it out of the dryer. 

               His love towards me is unconditional.  He doesn’t care if I yell at him, if I leave him alone for hours or just minutes.  He doesn’t have any concept of time.  He is always happy to see me come back.  As much as he tries to act cool, to show that he doesn’t really care, his little tail gives him away.  It starts slowly.  The tip of his tail starts trembling, like the tail of a rattle snake, and slowly the movement moves all the way to the body of the tail.  Then the wagging becomes stronger, and if you put your face next to it, it will cool you like a fan.  He thinks that you don’t notice; but you know and you notice.  You realize, that no matter what you do to him, yell at him or scold him like a child; get mad at him for throwing up on your rug, because he didn’t like the food; or for letting go some urine because he didn’t scratch the door on time for you to let him out, he will still love you; and he will love you unconditionally.  He will run around in circles to show you how happy he is to see you; or lick your hand till it’s raw to show that he appreciates you taking care of him, for feeding him and giving him a roof over his head.  This is what I call Unconditional Love.