Choices

The young boy awoke from a deep sleep as something wet brushed across his face. Still as he was half awake, the young boy could feel something heavy on his chest while still feeling something wet on his face. Opening one eye he tried to see what it was but quickly closed it as once again something wet touched his eyelid. Rolling to his side he tried to open his eyes and was successful and then he could see what was happening. A brown puppy with the largest tongue ever sat there staring him in the face all the while the puppy's tail smacked his stomach. Every time he moved now the puppy yapped at him as if to say "lay still I am not finished." The young boy then gathers the dog in his arms and applied his own kind of love. As he hugged him and cried, he promised the dog they would be friends forever and nothing would ever separate them.As time passed, the boy and dog were inseparable. The dog sat at the door every afternoon waiting for his best friend to return home from some place he wasn't allowed to go. No matter the separation, the two of them went through the same routine day after day for months on end. But one day things changed as the puppy wasn't there in his usual spot by the door. The young boy searched all about and finally found his best friend out in the back yard playing with various toys that had been bought for him over the years. In the past he had been too preoccupied to play with them. "Mom, why is he out there and not waiting at the door for me like he use too?" Mom slowly dried her hands and then placed the big pot on the stove. "Son, he waited as usual but it seems you get home later and later." The young boy look astounded ... but? Mom smiled, "your soccer practice, stopping off with friends, sleep overs and just generally not hurrying home as made you later and later each day." "But he can wait!" the young boy replied. "Yes, but you have changed your habits so can't he change his?" The boy looked amazed, "he is just a dog ... he could wait." Mom smiled, "No son, you decided to do what you wanted too and you changed the priority of how important he is. The dog just found something else to occupy his time." But mom, I want him to greet me at the door and play like we use too." The feeble protest was attempted and the mother looked at him without answering. After a bit she spoke softly, "then you must be here like you use too, you must choose where he stands in your life." The boy pouted as he stood there. "He hates me that is why he didn’t and he is so selfish if he doesn't want to wait for me." Mom didn't even bother to answer. The boy sat there and cried some. After awhile mom spoke, "just go outside and play with the dog and if after dinner you feel that way, we will get rid of him." Reluctantly, the boy got up and went into the back yard only to attacked by a giant fur ball with a giant tongue. The two of them played for what seemed an eternity and were brought back to reality at the sound of mom's voice calling them that dinner was ready. About halfway through dinner, Mom queried the boy. "Do you still want to get rid of him?" The boy looked at her with a shocked look. "Why? All he needed was me to make some time for him. He is still my best friend." Mom smiled, "that mutt would die for you."