Wednesday, February 11, 2009

I did what I knew to do


"You did what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better." by Maya Angelou. One of my very favorite quotes.

I pretty much live by this saying. It can be applied to so many different avenues. Loving, living, grieving, and acceptance.

Lately I have had to do a lot of reflecting. We spent the weekend going through old photos, selecting ones that we thought my dad would enjoy seeing again, and then once we had them gathered, I prepared a picture book of sayings to go with each photo. I mailed it off and I hope he gets it in time for Valentines.

Amazing that when you look back through the years how life teaches you to do better as you gain that knowledge to do so. I am sure I have much to learn yet, but for now,, I am appreciative of how far I have come.

Grief has always been a doozy for me. I have never dealt well with it. I remember losing my first sheltie and going into a bad depression. I never even left my bedroom for days,, the grief was too much to face others with. Time has taught me much about this. I have gained a remarkable peace with it that I never thought possible. I will never be quite "right" with losing someone that I love, but certainly,, I have learned to do better with it.

The same quote can be applied to dogs. At first,, my sheltie was the best. I could not see her faults. I had the rose colored glasses of love on. Then the second sheltie came,, a Champion that was sent to me to do junior handling with (pictured above, Ch. Kimrems Grin An Bear It). The difference between him and my first was so marked, he taught me to do better. From there as the dogs have come into my life and breeding program throughout the years,, each one has taught me at least one better virtue to strive for. I have made notes to myself as I have gone along as to the traits that each dog has presented to me to learn from. I think that is very important. Each one may have not been the "best" dog that I owned but the virtues and faults they presented taught me thus allowing me to do better next time..

Its all a process,, now isn't it? Life and living. Striving for further knowledge and understanding. I sure hope I never lose the drive to keep the "know better, and do better" attitude.


thats all for now folks. Until next time..

3 comments:

Starlight Shelties said...

Just love Maya Angelou, I have several of her poetry books !!
Very well said Shannalee !!!
Thanks for sharing that, it really helped me today as I have been in a reflective/look to the future goals/plans/dreams mode myself : )
I know your father will love the book you made for him!

Rachel

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing that :) Have a good weekend.

Josh and Jess

Kathy said...

Nicely said, Shannalee