Becoming resilient or developing the ability to bounce back from adversity is a bit like becoming physically fit! In fact it could be described as emotional fitness. Just like we don’t become fit and stop working out, we don’t become resilient and call it a day. It is a journey, a way of life, a lifestyle! For me, a vitally important piece of Resiliency is enjoying Simple Pleasures. For me that often involves my beloved Ruffus. It seems that no matter what is going on in my life, enjoying the simple sight of my happy dog, makes me happy and more Resilient. It is my pleasure to share with you, this simple story about a simple pleasure.
One day Ruffus, our extremely handsome, slightly scruffy, short Iris Wolfhound rescue dog from the Dominican Republic, decided to pay a visit to his little French friend Gabelle. Ruffus, with one ear up and one ear down, truly looks as though he should be in the movies, he lives on Chemin de La Falaise and Gabelle, one street away on Dicaire. It is also a short romp through the hardwood forest, but on this particular day, he takes the people route! Ruffus’s native language is Spanish, however, he listens or doesn’t listen in Spanish, English and French with equal measure! His years abandoned on the beach, along with his breed’s natural ” Independent streak” ( a politically correct way to say stubborn), combine to make listening, well, not his forte! See Ruffushttps://allaboutresiliency.com/ruffus-the-rescue-dog-or-the-rescued-dog/ for more on this story.
Gabelle, a native of Quebec, is well frankly so adorable, you just want to squeeze and hug her. She is still a baby at not quite a year, a joyful Golden Retriever, whose joy and enthusiasm is contagious. She bounds out of her house, down her tree-lined driveway, her little legs moving almost faster than her body, she plops down with her cute blonde face, wagging her tail and just truly puts cuteness into another stratosphere. I’d like to take a moment to describe her legs, it is a little tricky to explain! Gabelle’s fuzzy legs, make circle like motions as she runs, kind of like little windmills if you can picture what I mean. Her listening skills far exceed Ruffus’, I must say I hope some of it rubs off on him.
I really wish you could see them together, their individual cuteness combines to make the cutest canine couple ever! They are exactly the same size, 60 pounds each, the same color, and even though Gabelle’s coat is beautifully soft and Ruffus’coat is more a scruffy mess, they look very similar. When they play their doggie games, like “go around in a circle as fast as you can”, it gets difficult to tell who is who.
Well anyway, yesterday Ruffus decided to go see Gabelle. As usual, he bounds curiously up her driveway and she flies/runs with her little legs doing their windmill thing, down to meet him. They go around in a circle saying hi with a doggie greeting, that involves sniffing tails and circling and bowing. And then side by side these two look-alikes take off to see what they could see or more likely, smell. There was something about their investigations that put me to mind of two mischevious kids, up to something, not sure what, but possibly not good. It was something about the way they took off, together, same pace, same noses to the ground and looking back over their shoulders ever so slightly, signaling they knew exactly what they were doing, but not caring! Neither one listened to their Moms calling them to return. Our” Viens ici Gabelle” and “Ruffus come” were met with, well absolute ignoring. Up around the beautiful green house, nestled in the mountain, with a beautiful wreath lit with white mini lights, back down the other side they came, now doing ” the doggie race around the tree as fast as we can thing”, blurring themselves beyond recognition.
“Let’s go see Wally the cat”, I swear I could hear Ruffus say as they headed towards Kim and Pierre’s charming yellow house, complete with a soft ginger kitty named Wally. Wally is described as being the driveway greeter, here’s why. Wally, who has beautiful orange and white fur with remarkable markings, greets people at the end of his long driveway, he runs up, rubs the visitor’s legs, rolls over for belly rubs and purrs charmingly, all designed, I think to say ” Bienvenue”.
Something was telling me that a visit to Wally by Gabelle and Ruffus might not be the best idea ever, however, there was a momentary reprieve from that concern as Gabelle discovered a body of water. Maybe body of mud like water is a more accurate description. Her joyful self walked straight into the thick black muddy substance as her Mom and I looked on with horrific astonishment, watching as her fuzzy white paws turned black. With equal enthusiasm she sat down in the muddy gook, just as she was considering her next move which appeared to be rolling in it, Wally appeared in his driveway, this, of course, required immediate attention by the two pals, who no longer looked identical, by the way, because although Ruffus was still scruffy white, Gabelle was now a black and white dog wearing black socks.
The driveway keeper Wally, being sensible, took his leave in a dignified, cat-like way as he saw the white dog and the black and white dog approaching. The two buddies looked sheepishly over their shoulders at their Moms and disappeared up the mountain behind Wally’s house, presumably heading for the deer feeding station, oh lord! Gabelle’s Mom had to leave to do the soccer run, so Gabelle’s Dad took over the” get the dogs effort.”
“Where are they?” asked Gabelle’s Dad. And from over yonder, the two doggie friends, just returning from their adventure, appeared back in sight, walking happily, side by side, tongues hanging out with exertion, and for all the world, appeared to be smiling!
Gabelle and Ruffus, live with their families, nestled in the beautiful Laurentian Mountains of Quebec!
Susy Giddy is a Life Coach who lives in Mont Tremblant, Quebec and Cabarete, Dominican Republic. One of her specialties is helping people develop Resiliency. She can be reached at susy@cabaretelifecoaching.com or 902-989-6221