Dolly walked into our family
about 11 years ago, just a few weeks old. Our older son, Satya picked her out of the
litter because she was the most active. But why am I
talking about Dolly here in the Awesome Blossom daycare blog? It’s because she was
part of the Awesome Blossom family. Many little children of Awesome Blossom had
transitioned easily and walked in enthusiastically everyday wanting to snuggle
up to Dolly. Almost every child enrolled in the daycare fought fiercely for her, even shedding tears,
during their “mine” phase. She participated in circle time every day. And it was also a time of war between the kiddos about who would sit next
to Dolly. We sang about what Dolly was wearing in between giggles and
smiles during circle time. All the kids sat on her, poked her eyes, pulled her
tail, as they learned to practice their gentle touches and giving hugs while she sat patiently
through all, in fact with a look of amusement and contentment on her face – she
absolutely ADORED little children. She was trained early on to be nice to
children – not that she needed any, she was a natural, being a golden!
Dolly was extremely insightful to
parents’ feelings towards dogs. She stayed “off” parents who
were not used to dogs, while she was all over others who seemed to
have had dogs and loved her. Some of her best friends were parents enrolled in
daycare for whom she had simple, crazy love for – Seth and Anthony were a couple of them. She loved Laura and
Kim. She loved Elizabeth, a family friend, who did a dance with her every time
she came. She absolutely adored our fire fighter neighbor, Russel. Russel could
not step out of his house without being smothered and tackled by Dolly if she was out and
about. And there were other parents like Sameena, Evelyn, Vadivu and my husband,
Nagender that Dolly just never jumped on – not even once. She just knew they
were uncomfortable and always stayed “off.” With Amama, she behaved completely different
– she was calm and a disciplined dog. Amama called her “Yogi!”
Well Dolly, you have been a great
teacher to the kids and adults too. You have taught us compassion,
unconditional love, good listening, patience, discipline and being active! I
know you had a naughty streak in you – when you shared a human snack with dad
behind my back or when you put your face on my keyboard asking me to take you for a walk instead or when you were my “food vacuum” when you cleaned
up the floor after the kids’s lunch.
But seriously, you were really one good dog, my Dolly baby! I will miss you a
lot and so will many adults and kids. We will always adore you...
