Unconditional, an adjective.

Recently I found myself pondering the word unconditional. While I have my own definition, I wanted to better understand the opinion of my friend, the Oxford Dictionary.

"Unconditional; adjective. without any conditions or limits"

What comes to mind when I think of the word unconditional and more importantly, unconditional love, are my dogs. My husband too of course, yet some days it can be challenging so for now I will stick with my dogs.

Upon returning home my dogs always greet me full of excitement and with tails wagging. They make me feel like I am the center of their universe. And yes, if you think I am " a dog person" I am. Give me 85 pounds of wet kisses, dog breath, and disgusting drool any day over a fussy, aloof cat. However, dogs can test the concept of unconditional love. If they don't receive love and attention in return, lookout. Boredom sets in and they can test one's patience beyond measure. I know, I learned this the hard way. One day I came home to a greeting of wet slobbery kisses only to discover Lucy, my 85-pound lab, had chewed up the arm of the sofa down to the hardwood frame and then proceeded to remove all the cushion stuffing. How did she know I wanted a new sofa?. ...Dogs want to please us more than anything else. Otherwise, why would they tolerate being dressed up for Halloween only to be paraded around town? For some reason, dogs go along with this once a year event even though they don't seem to show the same enthusiasm as my three-year-old granddaughter does when she dresses up as Elsa from Frozen.

One of the qualities I love most about my dogs is their uncanny ability to understand how I am feeling and when I need a hug. Lucy would wrap her paws around my leg and while she loved hugging...kissing not so much.

So what does unconditional love look like? It looks like tall, short, chunky, petite, blonde, brown, black, spotted, and red. It speaks in a language that is unfamiliar. It looks like Annie, Juna, Sadie, Lucy, Gunther, and Hank.

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So riddle me this...why is it so hard for us as human beings to love unconditionally and without judgment and hate? ...Be it loving ourselves, or our neighbor down the street. Our neighbor who looks different from us, speaks differently, and whose beliefs and values differ from our own. I want to be more like my dogs. I know I will feel better. Who wants to join me?

This post is dedicated to Smokey, my 14-year-old Carin terrier.

Talk about unconditional love. He lived it every day.