This afternoon I was walking Griffin back from the dog park (where he is a superstar) and passed a mother with two young girls probably around 5 and 7 years old. The younger girl, upon seeing Griffin, almost jumped off into traffic to get out of the way, yelped loudly, and looked truly upset. I assumed she was scared of dogs, apologized, and kept walking as I was less then 1/2 a block away from my front door. As I was walking, I could hear the older girl excitedly talking to her mom about the ‘puppy’. She even made up a song about how she wanted to pet it which I found both endearing and pretty impressive as she came up with it in a matter of seconds. I stopped, turned around and, after assuring her Griffin is the nicest dog ever, asked the mother whether it was ok if her kids said hi. She looked concerned and explained that both of her daughters are scared of dogs. In fact, at this point they were hiding behind her, all 10 lbs of Griffin enough to freak them out.

I sat down on the ground and put Griffin in my lap so that I would have more control if he moved quickly. I was petrified that he might jump at them in excitement or lick their face and ruin any chance of them getting over their fear. Slowly, they inched over to me and started petting his back and tail, careful to steer clear of his head. After a few minutes the older girl asked if she could pet his head, Griffin greeted her hand with a wet slobbery lick, she laughed, smiled, and wiped it off on her dress.

Soon after, I got up, walked with the family to my door, said goodnight, and went up to my apartment so that Griffin could eat his well-earned dinner.

Fear is a crazy thing. It is often completely unfounded and can sometimes seem uncontrollable. But, when we decide to face our fears, we grow into more well-rounded and capable human beings not just in the context of that one thing or experience but all-round.

Meeting that family, and working with the girls on facing their fear, was the perfect way to start the weekend. Enough warm and fuzzy feelings to close out the work week and a reminder to challenge myself that will power me through the weekend and into next week.