carbonated joy

I was out walking Maggie the wonder hound.
In the distance we saw a perfectly behaved, perfectly groomed, little foo foo dog.
The perfect little Pomeranian was gingerly prancing alongside her owner. (I swear they were wearing matching pink head bows!)
Maggie saw Miss Thang and instantly thought one thing…FRIEND!!!
SHE HAD TO SAY HI!!!
The problem was that we were separated by shrubbery.
That didn’t stop her…
She bolted through a bush (with me attached) to introduce herself.
It didn’t turn out well, we didn’t ACTUALLY make it through the bush, AND the little dog didn’t ACTUALLY want to be friends.
As we were wrestling with the hedges, the dog and her owner looked at us with disapproval and a fair amount of disgust.
We clearly weren’t their type of people or pet.
That’s okay. It didn’t phase Maggie. It didn’t bother me.
It never dawned on Maggie that she looked silly.
She was just trying to make a friend.
She is more social than sophisticated.
She would rather look foolish than friendless.
She would rather live with embarrassment than regret.
She chases after connection.
I’m learning from my beagle.
I don’t want to get caught up in the social shrubbery.
It’s much easier to live with embarrassment than regret.