Fear Not, Small Beagle

I put up all the Christmas decorations over the weekend. For someone as obsessive as me, it took a while. After each little thing had found its home for the next month or so, my husband pointed to the Christmas Steelers snowman stocking which hangs from a corner of the television cabinet, 'Is Gracie still afraid of that?'

I gasped. I had completely forgotten about that phobia! In years past, Gracie the Beagle pup had an irrational, yet hilarious, fear of this black and gold snowman. When she saw it hanging lifeless in all its terror, she barked, cowered, and ran from it wildly. We discovered through trial and error that she seemed afraid of anything black and gold - my Terrible Towel, the dancing football man, a Hines Ward jersey. Quite a hazard in this household, let me tell you.

Squealing with anticipation, I grabbed the stocking from its nook and yelled, 'Let's find out!' So naturally, I stuck that stocking right in the Beagle's face as she lounged on her brown dog bed in front of the roaring fire.

What I got was absolutely nothing. Not a peep. Not a howl. Nary the bat of a Beagle eye. She looked at me as if to say, 'What? Can't you see I'm chilling over here? Take that thing and do what you will. What do you want from me?'

My husband and I shrugged and hung that stocking back up. Later, I thought how wonderful it would be if we all could let go of our quirky neuroses as easily as Gracie seems to have let go of hers. In a year's time, what once held such a terror had become completely forgotten. It held no power over her anymore.

Maybe we all will be so lucky. Maybe we all can learn to let go of our fears as quickly and easily as a Beagle.