INSPIRATION IS REAL

One thing hard to touch, harder to describe, and near impossible to see, yet extraordinarily powerful…is inspiration. Muhammad Ali was my earliest and greatest inspiration. I mean; to be smart, and attractive, and ‘the greatest’ in his lane, kept my eyes somersaulting. I used to think, “WoW”! If only I could harness that confidence (in whatever profession I chose) AND (…and this is the real deal breaker) BE THAT GOOD! 

But inspiration isn't always as linear… or delivers such a knockout punch. Generally, personal stories (and victories) move me. And of course, what enthuses one, might not enthuse another. For instance, my daughter and son-in-law built and have grown a ‘furry’ pet business. Now, I’ve never really been a fan of shacking up with animals, or re-interpreting their world, except after espying @TheyMadeMeWearIt, in addition to (over a decade) personally getting to know ‘our’ furbabies, I’ve reassessed how I feel about animals, and inspiration in general. 

As ‘They Made Me Wear It’ suggests, this is a full on ‘dress up’ production for dogs. Makes me smile every time I see one of the furbabies suited up, modeling from sunglasses to hats to thousands of outfits designed just for dogs. Now some might be put off seeing pets dressed up, and for reasons I kind of agreed with, at least BEFORE realizing I was a grandpaw’rent! 

My daughter has taught me so much about dogs, beginning with the purchase of her first pup, a personality-plus playful Frenchbo (Dilla). She actually let me keep, (and I called the then 30-pound ham ‘Dilla-man’), for an entire week. Later she and my son-in-law rescued a Bichon Frise mix (Willow), who I also met. 

At any rate, I got to learn about dogs on a level I wouldn’t have entertained on my own. Both dogs, Dilla (mostly black) and Willow (white), are like night and day. Dilla, for one, doesn’t seem to care for dressing up, and also isn’t so much of a cuddling fan. The whole week I kept him, he only wanted to play when I didn’t want to play… and vice versa. Willow, on the other hand, is a companion dog… though her pawrents claim otherwise.

I can go on and on talking about the pups; how clean and well-behaved and well cared for, and here’s a big one; how lovable they are. Except here’s the real deal. Dressing up pups and entertaining the grandpaw’rents and many fans is a fraction of the inspiration behind TheyMadeMeWearIt. Giving back to pet communities through donations and volunteer work and linking tips on caring for pets, along with blogging dozens of personalized stories and much, much more, is cause to pause. Look, anything that motivates us to be better humans towards each other, and towards other beings we share this world with, I’m all in. Inspiration is real.

Check out ‘The Joy of Loving a Dog Unconditionally’. It’s one of my favorite stories. Simply A Must. 

I also just read another book; Sula by Toni Morrison. (Thoughts HERE).

#TheyMadeMeWearIt #InspirationIsReal #ILoveReading #StillWriting #JustBlogged