Labels

People love labels - specially in the South where I live. You are not your own person - you are always someone's friend, sister, brother, husband, daughter, enemy, neighbor, etc. When I first moved to Charlotte, I got asked 3 questions over and over again:

1) Are you married?
2) How many kids do you have?
3) Which church do you go to?

From those 3 questions many labels were formed - none of them particularly nice. Over the last 10 years that I have lived here, they have not gotten any better. So today I ponder why do we make labels? Why do people have to fit into little pretty boxes in our mind?

This is a human thing I suppose. It seems that as we get older, those boxes become more and more important to us and more and more rigid. I wonder what would happen to us if all labels were removed. Sometimes I worry that the labels define us too much - to the point of where if someone is labeled a "bitch" so to speak, are they really a bitch or do they become a bitch because everyone else expects them to be like that? I don't know the answer to that question. I would like to think that I am my own person and my actions are independent of all labels, but I think it would be naive to believe that.

Wouldn't it be nice if we all woke up one day and somehow misplaced all of our labels? If we weren't able to remember who fits in which box and just treated everyone the same? I know it won't ever happen - but it would be a nice thought =)

In Willow's eyes

Laying on the bed, comfy and warm, I look into the eyes of my dog Willow - one blue and one brown, and see things that bring joy, happiness and a feeling of absolute contentment.

In Willow's eyes, I see how important meaningless things really are...

How a warm bed can feel so good when its raining outside,
how important it is to be able to scratch an itch no matter where it is,
how absolute contentment is not related to money,
how happiness is measured in small seconds spent in silence instead of hours celebrating,
how no matter how slobbery kisses are, they are still kisses
how friendship should last a lifetime,
how no matter how bad your life has been what matters is how it is now,
how I can be invincible when someone believes in me,
how a full belly can make you glow,
how to always see the best in people no matter what you have seen in life,
how touch can comfort more than words,
how it doesn't matter how much of the bed you take, what matters is that you are there to take it,
how eye contact can say things you simply cannot bring yourseld to say,
how you never have to say you are sorry to the people who love you,
how we can still be friends no matter what material things have been destroyed,
how its ok to fart in bed,
how all living creatures have a soul,
how love transcends gender, color, and species,
how it doesn't matter if your ears are inside out, so long as you are still listening,
how important you are is relative to who is looking at you,
how the small things you do really matter,
how those old shoes were old and should have been tossed a long time ago,
how best friends love you no matter how bad your breath is,
But most of all, I see how I already am the person I wanted to be.

And who says dog's can't talk?