Five Things I Learned from Being Loved by Scout

It has taken me time to finally find some words to put to the feelings that have swirled around me the past several days as I process our latest chapter.  Writing is how I process and commemorate the most significant events in my life, as you well know if you have known me long.  It’s the way I feel I can properly give tribute to the things that are most important to me.  It is with a trembling hand I find myself typing the saddest news that our littlest family member, Scout, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away in our home with Dave and I at his side last Wednesday morning.  He has been a feature on this blog and on my Insta, and in the background of so many parties and projects here over the years.  And this house has never felt so quiet and empty, even with all of us here.  And it’s in this way-too-quiet house, with a view of the last few golden leaves falling from a small tree onto a tiny new grave, I will share what I learned from 8 1/2 years of loving a dog named Scout.

There is such a thing as love a first sight.  When Dave surprised us all on Christmas of 2014 with the news that we could finally (finally!) get a dog after my kids spent a lifetime begging, we were elated and ready to find the right one.  Dave had already been researching the types of dogs that don’t shed, are best with kids, and could be easily trained.  A small Yorkie Poo would be the one, and we soon visited the farm where he life would begin. It wasn’t by chance that we walked in only one hour after Scout had been born.  We chose him immediately and from that moment, we were his family.  We visited him several times at the farm in the weeks leading up to the day we could bring him home, and every one of us fell in love from the beginning.  He was meant for us.  We knew.

God’s perfect timing sometimes includes dogs.  It would be 8 full weeks before we could bring Scout home, and we were more excited as the time got closer…until we got the hardest news of our lives.  My dad’s 12-year cancer battle was suddenly taking a toll like never before and my parents had to make the decision to move in with us so that my dad could be on hospice.  Many of you were following our journey.  It would be 3 months of the hardest and most beautiful days we had ever experienced leading up to my dad’s passing. We would have never planned to get a new puppy had we known before what was coming, but God knew better.  And so Scout came home on a snowy day in February, and started filling this house with a new love and happy moments amidst the darkest days we had ever encountered.  He most definitely was part of God’s plan for us.

Dogs are people too.  Wow, we learned very quickly how smart and intuitive God made dogs to be.  From learning all the little tricks the kids were trying to teach him, to getting house trained very quickly, we were amazed.  But it was his intuitive spirit that we came to see more and more over the years– the way he tried to comfort the minute he sensed sadness, kissing away tears… the way he slept right beside anyone who was sick on the couch.  The way he wanted to welcome the babies the first time he saw them, even though he wasn’t sure why they were here.  The way he never missed out on any major event that happened in this house.  He heard the deepest conversations, the hardest spoken prayers, and the sweetest surprise announcements, taking it all in as if he understood it.  He helped his people so much by just being.  Which can only lead me to conclude maybe I could help my people more by just being as well.

It is one of life’s greatest gifts to be loved by a dog.  I have been loved well by some of the greatest people I’ve ever known, and they have taught me how to love better.  But I’ve been amazed by how the love of a dog can teach you to love people better as well.  The intense loyalty, the desire to please, and the wagging tail at the sight of you are just a few of the sweetest things we love about dogs.  Even the most awkward of people find themselves feeling so accepted by dogs.  It’s so funny how Scout was so accepting of almost everyone that ever came to our house.  We even got a few laughs when we spotted my mother-in-law (a self -proclaimed non-dog person), let Scout snuggle in her chair with her the last time she was here.  He was very hard to resist.  The more I got to know Scout, the more I admired the miracle of love God gives dogs the ability to express.  Maybe He did that just so we could learn how to love people better ourselves.

It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.  Who first said this?  I’m sorry to say I don’t even have the energy to look it up right now because, once again, the reality of the loss is like a wave coming over me.  He should be here, sleeping beside me as I type, like he has been for hundreds of posts I’ve written here.  But like we are reminded of too often, life is fleeting.  We knew from the beginning we would most likely outlive him and that this day would come one day.  It came much sooner than we thought, but that’s what we say every time a life ends, isn’t it? It’s that reminder once again to love well, live with no regrets, forgive so very quickly, be loyal, make someone’s day happier because you’re in it, listen even if you have no wisdom to share, protect like the person is your everything, be content with the simplest joys of life, take more pictures, take the time to pet a dog.  Our lives have been richer because of you, Scout,  You were loved.  And we definitely were too.