TOFU
I have this blind angel in my living room. She is a Pit Bull as white as the driven snow. Her sight may be gone but she has a direct line connected to the pulse of this house. She knows the energy of the room like she understands her way around the furniture. She is certain of it. When there is action, is change, she is aware the moment it turns, or even a second before. She feels the change like a drop in temperature and if she is startled by it, she looks for a warm safe place to hide. She finds her way to the center of a plush bolster bed or up onto the couch. Sometimes, if the commotion of a visitor causes enough disturbance to make her worry, she shakes. She needs time to adjust to her new home.
I have this sad scared angel who lost her home and was transported across the whole country from California to New York in the dead of a vicious snowy frozen New England winter. She is a beacon of what is possible with the power of love. Love saved her life as she waited to be euthanized in a CA city shelter. Love brought her a guardian angel, brought her social friends, brought her home, brought her family. Through a debilitating handicap this angel believed in the power of that love and chose to follow the light. In her forever darkness, she saw the brilliance of healing love and learned to be a dog. And when that opportunity was turned upside down by the changes that come when people live their lives, love saved her life all over again. With special needs and the trauma of rehoming, only somewhere that could offer a particular care for her would be an option. This angel could not end up back in a shelter. Even the thought of this special dog left somewhere alone for any part of the day just seemed sad. Love gave her a chance at forever, here with us.
When we are busy with our busy days in and out of the house tending to animals and doing daily chores, the pack rests together. This blind angel has a room full of friends now, of energies to follow. When they head to the door to go outside, she follows. When they are excited about someone coming in the room, she follows, tail wagging, smile wide and tongue hanging. When the food smells start filtering through the air and the pack waits in anticipation, she too knows it is time to eat. When a new dog comes into the room, she recognizes the entrance and approaches respectfully and quietly to greet them. When her two new favorite people are feeling good vibes in a happy moment, she can feel them from across the room and her elated expression is pulled to them like a magnet, reaching with her face for the touch of our hands. When she rests her head down for an afternoon nap surrounded by sleeping pack, or laying in the lap of her human, she sighs deeply, letting the tension out and the love in.
Love still comes everyday for this angel. She may have lost her humans more than once but love has saved her again and she still wants to live on. Now she is an angel on earth, here to spread her message of love. She is a beacon of strength and peace that shines bright through any hard moment. Her vulnerability is undeniable, as she finds her way slow and steady and sometimes a little bit lost, always in her permanent darkness. Yet it just serves to show off her strength and unwavering spirit even more. She has been dealt a hard enough hand in life and yet is still willing to play the game. If I could muster half of her calm resolve in those moments in life where a crappy card is thrown my way...I would be a better person for it.
So, in the darkness behind a blind angel's eyes, I see the light of love.