Daughters and Bullies

I just realized yesterday that the way my girls deal with animals and bullies is exactly the same, and it completely dictates how they are treated in return.

It started with a text message just before church last night. Darby got a semi-harassing message from a NY number, saying they knew her and had important info for her. When Darby texted back, he or she only replied with sarcasm and would not say who it was. Darby left the phone in the car, and said that if it was actually a friend, they could respond nicely or she didn't have time for them.

After Mass she had five new messages... the first couple continuing with the sarcasm and the rest getting much nicer. It turned out it was a good friend of hers who was just being silly, so she did laugh in the car, but still demanded from him that he be nice if he wanted her to text back in the future.

Zuzu and Koshka get the same from her. She holds all the cards in the relationship. But, when they are kind to her, she never holds back on her kindness and love and affection for them, just as she does for her true human friends as well.

Tressa is very different. She is so much more willing to work for a friendship. It makes it much harder for her and she takes a whole lot more abuse from both people and animals, because she loves everyone.

I am not saying that she's weak - she definitely is not! She won't hesitate to let a friend or animal know that they have done something wrong and have overstepped their bounds, but after the correction comes forgiveness and the willingness to start again. Not all friends or pets understand that as well as the cold shoulder treatment they get from Darby, but in her own way, Tressa is very blessed by her actions. Some friendships don't come easily, but are still very worth the effort.  And with pets, someone has to stick around and continue taking abuse, or they'll never get trained!

Zuzu knows that if she wants gentle play and lots of love, Darby is her gal. But when she's full of pip and vinegar and puppy zoomies, Tressa is the friend she always heads for!

And I just sit back and watch. :)