Let me tell you a little story …
Back in 2013, I very nearly got a puppy.
It was a close call, and on reflection, the decision AGAINST said pooch purchase was maybe one of the better resolves I made during this time of insurmountable chaos.
Chaos that, in hindsight, was barely conducive to me looking after myself, let alone a four legged friend.
Realising this rather unfortunate truth, common sense ultimately prevailed, but had the reality of all-weather walks and surrendered spontaneity not dawned when it did, that scrumptious little chocolate sausage could just as easily a #dogmum have made!
I say this not with entire relief, because who’s to say if these deal-breaking ‘pet hates’ (pardon the pun) wouldn’t have dwindled into insignificance under the weight of that unconditional love that all pet owners profess to.
Such might well have been the case, and I do wonder sometimes, who I might have become had the 'sensible' Sliding Doors not changed the trajectory of mine and ‘Margaret’s’ (as I had provisionally named her) briefly crossed paths!
With any luck, Margaret is living the little-legged high life somewhere amongst field and flower, whilst I wallow in all the platitudes of ‘it was for the best’, most of which are rooted in the overwhelm of parenting WITHOUT a dog to walk, feed and worry about!
For all its undertones of ‘if only’, this post does remain an allegory for the virtues of ‘head over heart’ thinking.
After all, puppies may well be the ultimate joy-makers, fitness-promoters and all-found best-friends in the making, but as I ultimately concluded ten years ago, these 'therapeutic benefits' are only as good as one's willingness to take the 'ruff' that inevitably comes with the smooth-haired (huge-responsibility-requiring) territory!!