Best of Blogs #27

Buttercup, originally posted 12/5/09. This one wasn't originally on my best of blogs but after the events of the day (Buttercup collapsing, me driving frantically to meet her and Dan at the vet, all the while thinking she wasn't going to make it)...I decided this would be a good post.

They say that dogs often look like their owners. With her curly white hair, and my straight brown hair, I don't think Buttercup looks a whole lot like me on the outside. But on the inside, we're a lot alike.

Buttercup and I are both very opinionated. And once we've decided the way we feel about something, good luck trying to convince us otherwise. It's pretty clear what Buttercup likes and doesn't like, and it's the same way with me.

We're both afraid of things. For Buttercup, it's things like dumpsters, black garbage bags, hangers, other dogs, and pots. For me, it's things like snakes and humiliation due to lack of coordination. But we respond to fears in similar ways. Unlike Peanut, who typically faces her fears head on, me and Buttercup avoid our fears as much as possible.

We both know what it's like to be the reject. For many years I was the only single one at our family gatherings, but Buttercup was there for me. And we were both the ones to get picked on - her for her wussiness, me for my pickiness and just in general for being the youngest. And in those times, we bonded really closely.

During college, Buttercup was left with my parents who weren't really into the whole having a dog thing. So they took care of her basic needs but ignored her otherwise. We both know what it's like to be the outcast that nobody wants to be with.

People often see how overly submissive Buttercup is, or how she's afraid of so many things, and they think she should be tougher. But I get her. And she gets me. We understand each other in a way no one else understands either of us. That's what makes it so hard to be away from her for long. We're kindred spirits.

I don't really know how to explain it beyond the similarities I've pointed out, because we have this deep connection that goes far beyond just what we have in common. We can communicate with each other. Dan often is in awe of how I'll use my Buttercup voice to say something, and then she'll do that exact thing. But it's because I know what she's thinking. When she wants something, I usually know what she wants right away. We just have our own little wavelength.

It's not the same way I connect with Peanut because she's so different than I am. I love her dearly, but it's not the same as Buttercup.

Buttercup and I were made for each other - so that we'd at least have one other creature in our lives who didn't judge us for being the way we are, because we get it.