Kindness is a term utilized often, but it’s occasionally taken out of context. Kindness is real and pure. It can’t be “fake or non-authentic” as that would become overly apparent. Kindness is something that promotes gratitude and inspiration. It’s something that should be easily found and seen often, but the reason we are so captivated by kindness is because of how infrequently it appears.
When I first me my wife, we lived in Old City Philadelphia. We loved every moment of being there, it was an infectious ambiance of young professionals starting careers and taking on new responsibilities. We decided we wanted to get a dog, a rescue. She was a beautiful little Beagle/German Shepherd mix we named Mia. The week before we got her, my wife found out she was pregnant with our first child, and wasn’t sure if we should get her. I said absolutely we should, and in know time, she was ours.
We moved in July of 2007 to Bucks County, Pa, and in September had our first son Luke. We would go on to have 2 others, Jake and Lola as well, and adopt 2 other dogs Pepe and Brooklyn. Mia was our perfect dog; she never barked, didn’t need attention, she would occasionally run away and make friends with neighbors and their dogs who would call us to get her. She was our true first little baby and was such a special component to our family.
Mia is getting older and starting to have issues. She doesn’t keep her balance well, sleeps for really long periods of time, and can’t go for walks any longer. As this pandemic took shape, I was doing tons of meetings on Zoom in my office, giving speeches virtually instead of main stage, and doing interviews and podcasts more frequently than before. Every day my office, became our office. From the beginning of the day, she sits next to my desk, appears in all videos I do, virtual speeches and more, and never leaves my side. I know how daunting doing 8-10 virtual meetings a day can be, and giving main stage speeches with no live audience to feed off can be odd as well, but she is right there by me all the time to instill confidence, appreciation, and love.
I wanted to write an article on someone whose kindness really helped deeply during this pandemic, and all thoughts kept coming back to Mia. On November 13th, I turned 47, and she turned 14. Our birthdays are the same day. We celebrated our birthdays together as a family. She seems to be having more trouble as the days go on, but the kindness and love she has given to me during this new normal will never be more appreciated then now. I thank her every day for being the nicest friend in the world. Kindness can be delivered in a variety of different ways, Mia’s helped me immensely in a selfless and appreciative manner. Dog’s really are man’s best friend!
