Motivational Speech, Delivered to Panda, the Border Collie Mix

Today marks a day full of accomplishments.

Take note that you made it outside, on your own, without the lure of treats, without the tug of a leash, but because you aspired to walk out on your own terms.

Because you wanted to.

Because despite your fears of what awaits you across two doorframes - three, actually - and two rooms, you made it out on your own.

That sort of accomplishment deserves a victory dance.

Like the way you zoomed around the backyard, your spirit loose and free like the wag of your tail.

Remember that feeling. How you were able to let go the tight grip of anxiety. For those few minutes, you were comforted, light-hearted, safe.

No one knows exactly what you’ve been through, save for you, dear girl. We know little about your story, what weight you carry, what things can’t be unseen.

But, the great thing about any story falls to the writer. Only the writer can shift the storyline, can move the plot, can grow the characters.

I know how fears latch onto a body. Feed on doubts, on worries, on lies that you may speak to yourself.

But you can lift the latch of fear. Bring it to rust with misuse. Because in place of porch doors left on old hinges, you regarded doorways as a transition into a better room, a wider space, a better story.

And yes, while doorways can lead to fears, while they can block the corners, fail to reveal what lies a few feet ahead, how about the excitement of what awaits?

Like the comforts of a makeshift bed - layered with a sleeping bag, fleece blanket, and striped towel. The knowledge that buried beneath those layers is a promise and stability of love and security. If only you can take those cautious steps forward and then bound right through.

So chin up, girl. Because despite those minute tremors, those furtive lip licks, those 2 steps forward then 5 steps back, you managed those transitions.

And you’ll do it again and again and again. Until you can trust that there’s more worth in venturing through doorways than shrinking yourself within one room. Until you can trust your belly turned up, accepting and welcoming kind hands. Until you can trust that even when you can’t make it from room to room, there are helpful souls along the way to remind you that you’ve done it before. So you will do it again.

Let’s mark these days. These accomplishments, just like Tuffy marks every patch of grass, every telephone pole, and every passing tree as his.