This four-legged guy - as silly as he sometimes is, he masters the art of happiness. He sees friends wherever he goes. Radiates love. And is not too shy to receive it from others.
I can leave him for just an hour. But when I come back, the excitement, the happiness, the joy to see me, is none less than if we'd been separated for a week.
He cares. He protects. He tries out new things. Fails. Messes things up. Gets told off, feels bad, shame, guilt, frustration for a moment and then keeps on exploring.
He doesn't hold back but he lives his truth. He gives his best. All is new - even the old. Pushes the boundaries, because life is an adventure.
When he plays, he plays hard. When he loves he loves fully. He is here for you, with you, fully - not somewhere else, lost in his mind. He takes life as it comes and appreciates the simple things.
I see him sniffing on asses, peeing at trees, playing with shit. And still he embodies something we have been dismissing since we were children. He embodies, in a way, a freedom that we humans are longing for - in the prison of our own minds.
I'm glad to be human, because I have the consciousness to observe, to learn, to conclude and to know, that essentially the same freedom is available to us too.
Sam