My heart is officially warmed for the entire week. See that sweet pup on the right? That’s Olivia, Molly’s daughter. And if this isn’t the sweetest example of motherly love, puppy style, then I just don’t know what is.
On Saturday, we had a family reunion. We visited Molly’s foster family, and we met Olivia, her owner. There was apprehension at first, and Molly was certainly tentative. But after a few minutes of on-leash growling, Molly settled. And a second after that, they two were tearing across the grass like lightening. They’d stop to roll over, lick, and then tear off again. It was heartening to see them together.
But this moment of shared kisses was my very favorite.
They were already a little tired, standing still at the top of steps on the foster family’s porch. There was a moment of quiet and almost stillness. Dog toe nails scraped as they stepped across the boards. They took turns drinking from a nearby bowl. Molly came up first and looked out at me and over the yard. She’s still tentative and unsure of my camera, so she looked back toward Olivia who came to stand next to her.
Olivia is taller than Molly, her brown patches are lighter, cream-in-my-coffee color. but the mask around her eyes is the same shape. And I could see Molly in Olivia’s golden eyes. There’s a gentleness there. And then just like Molly saw exactly what I was seeing, she walked over and kissed her daughter, tongue out, perfectly dog.
Molly was tender, she was gentle. She was moving forward with that motherly love that shows pure adoration. I know this feeling. It’s like love takes over. You look at your child, and you just need to wrap both arms tight around them and hug them to make sure they’re real, to make sure they’re yours, to make sure they know you love them. Ask my kids.
And I know I could be reading into what happened. Olivia might’ve just eaten something that Molly was hungry for, or something else equally dog-like. But I want to believe there’s love behind that giant tongue and in that shared slobber. There’s motherly love.
And then I love my little mama dog even more. Excuse me while I go wrap my arms around her neck.
Oh my, how precious! Olivia is gorgeous - and so tall, compared to her mama!
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