BE Inspired

Letter #1 of a series...

Lesson #1: The size of your meatball matters.

Dear Future Grandchildren,

Our beautiful dog Zoe, who I hope is still around for you to meet, was perfect in every way except for one- she got very, and I mean very, carsick. Aunt Cassie/your Mom and I found this out the hard way on one of our trips from New Jersey to Virginia.

So, we took her to our veterinarian who prescribed anti-nausea pills. The nurse suggested we use ‘pill pockets’ which were like edible, flavored Playdoh (google it) for dogs that you wrapped around the pill to form a little ‘meatball’ as she called it. She told me since Zoe was little I only had to use part of the pill pocket and make just a little meatball when giving her the pill.

Before our next trip, I did exactly as the nurse taught me…tore off a piece of the pill pocket and wrapped it around the tiny pill forming a small meatball and gave it to Zoe. She put it in her mouth and in about 10 seconds promptly spit out just the pill- clean as a whistle. I tried again and again and no matter what I did she spit that darn pill out in perfect form. We had quite a few laughs over this, but in the end we knew we had to give her these meds otherwise our trip was doomed. So, out of desperation, I formed a giant meatball around the pill using two pill pockets and it worked!

The next time she needed the meds I again tried to use just a small meatball, but she would spit that pill out over and over until I put it in a giant meatball. A bigger meatball simply hid the taste/texture of the pill - or whatever she didn’t like about it- enough so that she was able to swallow it down. Later that night I was thinking about Zoe and her big meatball and it hit me...the size of your meatball matters!

You see, like Zoe, throughout your lifetime you will have lots of ‘tough pills to swallow’ (google that old saying). These will come in the form of challenges like illnesses, break-ups, job loss, disappointments, stress, etc. And, just like Zoe, you will be able to conquer those challenges if your “meatball” is big enough. In our case the meatball isn’t a pill pocket though - It’s our support system made up of family, friends, and community. When a challenge arises and you don’t have a big meatball ready, it is going to be tough to get through it. But, if your meatball is big, like Zoe’s, you will be amazed at how much easier triumphing over that challenge will be!

So, never forget that making and nurturing relationships over the course of your lifetime is critical to you being able to withstand all the tests life hands you. Sometimes life gets busy, but I encourage you to make building up and nurturing your meatball a priority and, in harder times, you’ll be thankful you did.

Love,

Nana XXOO