MAXDOG: Home is a journey...

GREETINGS FROM SOUTH AFRICA!

MAXMOM here...

HOME IS A JOURNEY

Do you know the saying; “Your home is where your heart is”?

Well, when your heart begins to soar, you suddenly realised that you are finally home. In my case, my current journey feels like home and, yes, my heart is soaring!

With the prospective publication of MAXDOG, I have had this immense feeling of elation – a surreal certainly that what I am about to do, was somehow always meant to be. I didn’t plan it this way – it simply happened. In 2000, Maxdog was gifted to me. I didn’t ask for him. I didn’t even want him. But he happened – with all the vigour that life can offer. It’s somewhat strange to finally be here – on my own ‘home’ journey.

I was thinking about it last night - how, for the better part of my life, I’ve been hankering after doing ‘something good’. I’m sure we all have that feeling at some stage – a need to make a difference to this world, a need to contribute in some way. But most often, we are faced with the question “How exactly do I make a worthwhile contribution?” In my case, this question has been realised with the writing of MAXDOG.

When Max finally succumbed to his cancer last year, I realised what a difference he, in his own short life, had made to mine. This amazing dog had touched me like no other. He’d contributed to this world in his own special way. Indeed, he’d been on his own ‘home journey’ ever since he arrived on my doorstep. His life had already been mapped out for him in all the mystery of the universe. He had been placed with us, perfectly, for a specific purpose.

It was the beginning of last year, that I came to the point of realisation, when I suddenly felt ‘compelled’ to write his story. Max was offering me the opportunity of making my own contribution to the world – by sharing his story – the story about the dog, behind the blog, and how he’d changed my life so dramatically.

Well, I completed Max’s story in September 2010 and have been patiently tending to it since then. The creative process has not been without its many hurdles. But this story has been my own ‘home journey’ – my opportunity to do something for the greater good. I know that his story echoes that of millions of others out there – those dogs who have touched the lives of their owners, but who have silently slipped away, undocumented.

Although Max’s story is an intimate and unique account of his and my life together, I know that the feelings and emotions which I experienced along our journey are shared by many other people and their canine companions. I have never been alone in this – even if I thought so at the time!

So, at last I am ‘home’! I am finally on the path that I was meant to follow. When this book eventually goes out to print, I will finally be able to sit back and know, with absolute certainty, that I’ve done something truly good. In a way, this whole journey has been an extreme act of faith – I have simply followed the hunch that this is truly meant to be. Once published, Maxdog’s story will finally be immortal.

Yes, I have to accept that my journey has been charted for me all along. The only thing that I feared along the way (and which stopped me at times) was fear itself. It was the fear of being made vulnerable to the world, once my story was out. It is the fear of laying out my soul, for all to see. But, if I sit back and think about it, I can honestly say “This is good!” What more could I possibly I ask for?

Perhaps the answer lies in this question. Will you, perhaps join me in my own silent prayer:

“WHEREVER MAXDOG GOES, LET IT DO GOOD!”

Sending lotsaluv and wishing you all a happy week!

PLEASE NOTE:
If you would like to follow MAXDOG's journey on the road to publication, please keep reading this blog or follow him on
FACEBOOK: CLICK HERE

If all goes well, the book will be out by Christmas! :)