“How do you spell love?” ~ Piglet
“You don’t spell love, you feel it.” ~ Pooh

If you have been following me for a while then you know I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day for three reasons: it has become a price gouging marketing ploy, not everyone gets to celebrate it, and it can become a social media “keeping up with the Jones” circus that I don’t want to be a part of. So today I decided to share an unconventional love story.

On Wednesday, my friend shared the story of his beloved dog, Rocco, who recently passed away after 13 amazing years of doing nothing but unconditionally loving and adoring his family of five. As my friend told story after story about this amazing dog who filled his home with love for 13 years, I thought about how we as humans somehow struggle with unconditional love and how special and rare that kind of love that Rocco gave everyday of his life truly is.

Imagine 13 years where you never judged, got angry or frustrated, annoyed, etc. It’s incomprehensible, right? I couldn’t even make 13 days, maybe not even 13 hours. Now imagine the purest love coming your way when perhaps even you didn’t think you deserved it—when you were grumpy or irritable. Today, in honor of Rocco, let’s try to find that kind of love to spread around and not just to our family. Dogs are amazing, and I don’t think there is any coincidence that dog spelled backwards is God. Today, let’s do our best to be Rocco!

And to Rocco: Thank you for being an amazing example of how we are supposed to be on this earth. Job well done! XO

With Love,
Beth
PS This is not Rocco, but I hope Rocco’s family will share a picture of him with us on Facebook.