This Christmas, I volunteered to dog sit for my good friend’s dog … AND her neighbor’s 3-month old puppies, Dixie and Han. They are gorgeous, lively English cream retrievers, the toddlers and 10-year-old, alike.

At this writing, I am nearly 36 hours into the stay. It is complete and total chaos.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

It’s been 13 years since my beloved Great Pyrenees, Merlin, passed away a few weeks before Christmas. So, you might say that this dog-sitting thing is a dramatic change in my regulated, Virgo world.

Since I landed at my friend’s house, it’s been nothing but a litany of queries on my end, primarily directed at the two pups i.e., Where is their current location? What’s that they’re chewing on? How did they dig yet another hole under the connected yards? Do they really need to go potty again?

The 10-year-old Georgia sighs resignedly, watching me patter around trying to locate the toddlers… and, then, watching them patter after me with adoring, expectant faces.

They attack my broom as I endeavor to sweep up their swirling white hair, and I’m suddenly struck with Merlin memories, remembering how I finally opted for an industrial Shop Vac after his cotton-like hair clogged and killed three vacuums.

Merlin was such a magical creature and touched so many lives that, when he passed away, I received sympathy cards from people all over the world.

A few weeks later, as I sat down to write my annual Christmas letter, I somehow ended up writing about the beautiful lessons Merlin taught me over the years. His endlessly shedding hair was one of them.

This New Year, as you think about the year you’ve just lived, and look ahead to what you want to change in your life, I think you might enjoy this reminder, too.

A Gracious Gift

As a fastidious (aka: clean freak) Virgo, Merlin’s hair, hair and more hair was initially a frustration. When he was a puppy at our first house together, we got into the habit of sitting together for hours on the patio as I brushed him and gabbled about my day. I would pile the new haystack of captured Merlin hair in a giant basket nearby, weighing the fluffy mass down with his many brushes.

I can still remember the spring day when Merlin and I were out on our daily walk, and I realized the birds in the neighborhood were padding their dear nests with Merlin’s soft hair. Telltale tufts of white would peek at us from this branch or that bush, a downy welcome gift for their tiny baby birds.

The discovery stopped me in my tracks. All this time, I’d been bothered about something that others considered a luxurious gift.

I never looked at Merlin the same way again.

Remember this, dear reader …
There is something about the very essence of you that – while normal or every day or even frustrating in your own opinion – is considered a magical and gracious gift to others.

Honor that part of you. Give of your gifts freely knowing that somewhere, somehow another’s life will be blessed. It will prove to be a wondrous New Year for you, indeed.

Diane Armitage

Diane Armitage owns a marketing agency, which has allowed her to write and create every single day for 24 years. She is the author of best-selling books on Laguna Beach and has published the entire “Merlin Christmas letter” as a Kindle e-book. Click to order Lessons Merlin Taught Me, or go to Amazon and type: Lessons Merlin Taught Me. Share your thoughts with Diane at: diane@armitageinc.com