WHO LET THE DOGS OUT

     The most beautiful thing that I have observed about human nature is that ‘We find out our strengths only when we are challenged’. And this was recently proven to me again by my daughter. My daughter is the apple of my father-in-law's eye. Having had two sons and not a daughter to cuddle, he always pampered my daughter. He carried her in his arms most of the time and never let her down saying that her feet could get dirty. This is how you get treated if you are the first grandchild. But, this in essence had a different effect on my daughter. Being carried frequently and always wearing socks when walking made my daughter sensitive to walking barefoot and that in turn affected her running. 

    In schools and among her playmates, she was labelled as ‘the one who never ran’. So, she seldom made friends with other kids who would run even in times and places where they could walk. This troubled my heart as a mother, so I went to great lengths to have her checked for any disability. However, there was no negative result, which was a sign of relief, but there was still no change in her running. She feared to run lest she would fall. 

    During the recent summer holidays, things took a turn when we visited my sister-in-law’s family. She has three daughters named Sadhana, Jeni, and Jasper, who are older than my daughter, Keren, by a few years, the eldest being at least seven years older than her. They had a pet dog that was pregnant. Keren had been asking for a pet dog to play with recently, and we wanted to see if dogs were a thing for her. 

    She did not take a liking to the dog and the dog in turn didn’t seem to like her either. It kept barking at her every time it saw her. So, the girls had it locked up whenever Keren wanted to play around. On the third day of our visit around evening tea time, I was in the bedroom reading a book while my hubby and my in-laws were in the living room chatting. Suddenly, I heard Keren shouting and panting and saw her running like she had never run before. She flashed into the bedroom and jumped onto the bed and crouched behind me. It took me a second to take things in. For then I realised what had happened when I saw Maggie, (that is the dog’s name) running in followed by my husband. 

    My husband was awestruck because he saw the dog chasing our daughter and concluded she could get beaten and came running to stop the dog. However, when he saw that Keren had outrun the dog and was safely hiding behind me, he was surprised himself. My husband and I looked at each other for a moment and burst out laughing. My daughter as you could have guessed correctly was very upset with us. The dog was still near the bed though it didn’t jump onto it. 

    We sent the dog out and pacified our daughter who was nearly in tears, but somewhat surprised herself. After a few minutes, half laughing and half crying with tears still holding up in her eyes she said, “I thought the dog would bite me. I don’t know how I ran so fast.” That was it, we couldn’t hold any longer. Brilly and I (by the way Brilly is my husband’s name) burst out laughing again till our sides were aching and our daughter was punching us reproachfully. But since then I have come to notice that Keren now wants to run around and play more with other kids who run. 

    This made me ponder a little deeper about some of the problems and troubles that chase us. When I was young, I detested exams like anyone of us would. However, now I have come to realise that I didn’t detest all my exams but the ones that were not my area of interest. I was poor at math and science, but language and grammar had always been my strength. I remember wondering, how my class toppers who knew all the theorems like the back of their hand, didn’t get the idiom’s meaning.  Now I know that Math was their strength while English was mine. But for me to come to this conclusion I needed the exams to challenge me to bring the best and worst out of me. 

    Sometimes, the troubles and trials that we face in our lives show us what we can do and what we cannot do. Unless we are pushed to limits we won’t know that our boundaries are far bigger than what we thought. The troubles also teach us to keep in check what our limits are. I like helping people around me. Sometimes, I go out of my way to help others. I often get schooled for that by my husband, but then that’s just who I am and it makes my day. On the other hand, there were times when I was frustrated for helping others and hated myself for doing it. These bad experiences however taught me a lesson that I cannot play God. I cannot be available all the time in all the places and do all the things that people might ask me, even if I desire to do it. 

    In life, you too might feel like someone has let the dogs out at you. But when the chase is over, you will know what your strength is and you will also know what your limit is. Strive with your strength to extend your boundaries and check your limits to stay within them. Therefore we will always be at peace and be our best. By the way, if you happen to know my daughter and are someone who speaks to her, please don’t share this blog with her. I have already had my share of punching from her. 😉