Hi. Monte here. I’ve been meaning to write this article ever since we got back from DC. Frankly, I’ve been worn out.
You probably think that’s funny, since Becky and Rich do all the work, but I’m part of this team, too, and on this trip I had a much bigger job.
Our core team is usually pretty small: Becky, Rich, and me. My main job is to just be my adorable self. Okay, I’m sorta kidding, but one of my big jobs is to draw people into our circle. I’m the magnet, and I give Becky and Rich the chance to connect with them and hear their stories.
But really, my main job is to love whoever’s around. Mostly that’s Becky and Rich and a few other people for a short period of time. And that’s okay, because love is hard work.
I’ve heard people say love is a feeling, but even a dog knows that’s crazy. If love was just a feeling, you’d love people sometimes and not others. They’d never know they could count on you. You’d wake up every morning wondering if you were loved.
If love was a feeling, I’d have to worry whether Becky loves me when I forget and dig in her flowers. But that’s not how it works. Even when she’s angry, I know she loves me.
Love isn’t a feeling. Love is something you do.
And on this last bike trip the team got bigger. There was Mitch, Clay, Carmen, Tom, Emily, Erin, Hanna, Kristen, Cody, Carmen, Kathy, Margie, Una, Lydia, Candice, Rachel, Brandon, Keith, Mallorie, Jess, Ryan, and Paul. Plus Becky and Rich.
I had to figure out who liked to wrestle and who liked to cuddle, who wanted me close and who’d rather keep their distance, because sometimes love means giving someone some space. Love means doing what the other person needs, even if it’s not what you want.
I didn’t always do it perfectly, because I’m just a dog. But I tried, and I gotta tell you, loving that many people, all the time, unconditionally, is hard.
The people on our team showed a lot of love for each other. I notice that kind of stuff, and I can tell when it’s real and when it’s fake. These people cared about each other—a lot. They made it look easy, but I know it wasn’t. It wasn’t a feeling, it was a choice to do what the others needed. I’m happy they let me be part of it.
I’m glad our team is usually pretty small. Loving Becky, Rich, and the people we meet is a full time job for me. From what I can see, people must have a bigger capacity for loving, because some of them seem to be able to love a lot of people and make it look easy. They must practice a lot and work pretty hard to make it a daily part of what they do.
I try to love everybody, but there are some people I just have a hard time being around. I wonder if there are any people who can love everyone unconditionally.
I doubt it.
I hear Becky and Rich talk about God. That’s too big an idea for a dog, but when I think about trying to love everybody all at once, I think you’d have to be God to do something that big.
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