Mili’s Day Out
Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day. The sun was smiling, the birds were chirping and we decided to harness the Aussie spirit and go for a long drive. We rugged up quickly and put our pure-breed labrador Mili in the car.
We drove to Healesville and then went for a walk with Mili. She was so inquisitive as she sensed this was a new place, one she hadn’t traversed before. Oh every little blade of grass was sniffed at. I love the way she can be a goat as she chomps off a few blades of fresh grass and savours them thoughtfully as if they were the next best thing to sliced bread!
The place was thronging with people of all ages. We decided to sit out on the porch at a coffee shop and tied Mili close to us. She is the most beautiful loving creature I have ever met. But the only thing we have not managed to teach her yet is manners. You see when she sees anyone she gets so excited thinking they have come just to play with her that she can get over loving and decide to show her affection by being too generous by licking or going into a playful mode. Dog lovers love her and play along. But if it’s anyone who is scared of dogs, well she is not to know that and can still try her luck at being too friendly.
So while we were sipping our latte’s under the filigreed sun, a little boy of perhaps 2 years of age walked up to her and started coo-ing sweet nothings to her. I got a bit tense thinking she may start being over friendly and knock down the little boy in her excitement at having a new play mate. But to my amazement she just stood there in her most gentlest form and let the little boy fondle her ears and she gave him gentle little licks. Even the boy’s father was amazed at how it all panned out. After a few minutes we had another little girl come up and walk straight to Mili, exclaiming “hello little puppy!” and put her grubby soft hands around her neck and Mili just stood there nuzzling the little girl. One little baby crawled up to her and put her hand out. Mili just rubbed her nose against the little hand and gazed upon the baby adoringly.
It was such a treat to watch her being ever so gentle. It was like she sensed that she was around little babies and was like an absolute angel. She got a lot of pats and then we drove our little angel back home. When I went to bed that night I kept re-running that scene in my mind. I love my Mili. She is the sweetest thing that has been sent to me in this lifetime.
The word Mili means “found” in Hindi, (usually associated with finding a female) But I often wonder did I find Mili or did she find me???
