I’ll lick you till you’re not upset anymore.

It’s been a long day. I’m tired. The sofa is inviting. I decide to catch a few winks. The puppy is nearby on the carpet. Her furry little self blends into the carpet. She chews her toy. I lay on the sofa. It is a peaceful moment.

I hear her gnawing on the toy, or so I think. The sounds gets rhythmic and she seems hard at work. I glance in her direction and bolt upright for it’s the carpet she’s been working on! The stinker has been pulling threads off of the carpet. I am next to her in a leap, and stare in horror, at a small bald area with no carpet hairs.

“No!” I shout and push her away. “You don’t do that” . “No,” I say loudly, pointing at her work area.  “Look at me,” I order. “You don’t do that”. All English. Funny how I never admonish her in Marathi. But I digress.

Suddenly, in that moment I am exhausted. I want to throw in the towel. I’m too tired to chase a puppy around the house. “Why is there a puppy in this house? Why in the world, did I give in to the puppy request?” I ask myself (everyday).

I sit on the floor with my head in my hands. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t possibly watch over her all the time. I can barely manage the things I need to do.”  

I am tired. I don’t want to anticipate her next move and chew. My body needs a nap on the comfy sofa to get through the rest of the day.

The puppy jumps on me and starts licking my ear. She can’t bear the fact that I am upset and wants to cheer me up. I push her away.  

“Go away. You’re the reason I’m upset,” I tell her.

She doesn’t care. She continues to jump on me and lick my ear. Did I mention, licking the ear (and sometimes face) is her way of saying ‘I love you’.

I turn away from her. I don’t want to look at her. She doesn’t care. She jumps on me and licks my ear some more. And with such fervor, I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

I doubt she sees any connection between her actions and my being upset. She is not apologizing. She is not trying to win me over. It’s not about her. It’s about me. She does not want me to be upset. Period. And she is determined to lick me and especially my ear till I’m not.

Yes. As she licks me, it sinks in some more -- it’s not about her. It’s about me.

I put her in the wood floor penned area. I am on the carpet side.

“Bad puppy,” I tell her. She doesn’t care. She runs around the kitchen and dining area, so she can see me. She knows I’m still mad. She whines and makes her strange Chewbacca talking sounds. She does her funny thing with the paw trying to call me. I give up. It’s pointless. It’s also simple.

It’s very simple in her world. If you’re upset. You need love. She is here to give me love. She is trying to tell me there is really no point in being upset. She is telling me to not hurt myself with the upset.

I suppose she’s right. Maybe this puppy is trying to convince me that it’s pointless to be mad at someone, about something, something outside me, something outside of my control, or maybe even to take the weight of her actions on my shoulders.

What matters is that I remove the upset from inside me. That is the only thing of any real concern to this puppy. To not be upset.

The puppy world must be a wondrous place to inhabit. For anger, irritation, pressures, frustration, are all pointless to this puppy. And the only sensible thing to do is to release it and replace it with love. One ear-lick at a time.