Rainbows and Puppy Dogs by Julie Christen

We learn early on that life is hard. And it most certainly is NOT fair. What are the old adages? 

Flight comes after the struggle.

Nothing gold can stay. 

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  

Life ain't all rainbows and puppy dogs.

Maker knows, I have leaned on sayings like these more times than I can count to get me through some dark times in my life. Like this spring.

But don't you sometimes just get a little exhausted from it all? Don't you sometimes just wish the universe would back off ... For. One. Minute? Wouldn't it be nice to give your "Suck it up" muscles a chance to go soft? Why exactly, Mr. Robert Frost, why can't some golden things stick around? And what's so wrong, after all, with a few more rainbows and puppy dogs?

I do understand the danger of getting too comfortable - how it makes the mind complacent. Makes it easy to quit exploring. Quit wishing, quit being curious, quit wanting much of anything from life. And maybe too much comfort can lull you into taking some of the good things for granted. 

But I do not believe life was meant to be spent perpetually on the toes. And I don't mean prima ballerina-style. I mean, always-on-guard, prepare-for-ninja-attack toes. At some point, aren't we allowed to relish in the deliciousness of relaxed shoulders and a slack jaw? I'm talking as an expected, relished, well-earned part of life, not as a prescribed therapeutic remedy we must be reminded to carry out.

Think of all those in our lives, too, who take (or took) the whole "Never quit" and "Hang in there" kitten poster to Olympic levels. Like Frank Kuntz, who still fights to this very minute through cancer and a heartbreaking yet inspiring past to preserve the Nokota horses. 

Think of Jude. Our publishing warrior. Who took a chance on us. She saw something special in us and made our dreams of writing become something real. 

I can't control the universe. 

I can, however, decide how to tell my stories. While I do not intend to glaze over hardships and struggles for readers to connect to, I will always try to relax some shoulders, unclench some jaws, and share some rainbows and puppy dogs. Every. Single. Time.

Spoiler alert!

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No dogs will die in my books. You're welcome.

To Josie. A beautiful blink in my life. 

(2023-2026)