Happy National Pet Day, Maple

Today is National Pet Day. Maple has been informed of this honor and has responded by sleeping in my spot on the couch. A very on-brand celebration.

I’ve written before about the things Maple has taught me, and I keep coming back to the same truth: she is genuinely, completely, uncomplicated about love. She doesn’t hold a grudge past the moment. She doesn’t worry about whether she’s doing enough. She doesn’t wonder if she deserves the good things. She just shows up, fully present, and gives everything she has to whoever is in the room.

I’m not saying we should all operate with the emotional complexity of a golden retriever. But there’s something in there worth borrowing. The part where you’re just glad the person you love is in the room. The part where you don’t make joy complicated.

Go be with whoever your Maple is today. They’re probably not thinking about it as hard as you are.

Don’t make joy complicated. Maple never does.

Who or what in your life brings you that simple, uncomplicated kind of happy?