The Stories My Husband Tells

The Hubs and I have been living together for a solid week now and we are getting along swimmingly. Can I say swimmingly? Well I did. Anyway, everyday I'm learning more and more about this new installment in my life. Recently my friend, Samantha, blogged about the Story of a dog and talked about the story that each shelter pet holds and waits to tell. This got me to thinking about the stories Hubs tells. Figuring out how to listen to the story is up to the adopter. The most frustrating piece of the matter is that they can't outright tell you their story. I'm not quite fluent in Barkanese, so learning to listen to My Husband has been quite the endeavor. Though I do understand when he tells me there's a cat nearby/in/around/passing by/crossing through/looking at the yard-- we've got that one down pat.

I know what I was told at Hub City Humane Society about this guy. Quite frankly it's the bare bones of his story. Hubs is the product of a divorce. The wife got the house. The husband got the dog. With no space or yard to keep him happy, Hubs was surrendered. His vet paperwork shows that he has been to the doctor regularly. And that's pretty much it.  I look at his not-so-little face, beaming with so much personality, and I wonder how could anyone have surrendered this guy. Crazy. He's awesome. Even an unbiased person would agree- and they do.

This isn't his full story though. This is just his single story. There's so much more. Someone can hear what I've already shared and create their own image of My Husband, and it most likely wouldn't be accurate. His story goes much further than being a divorce by-product.

A few of his stories and my ponderings and interpretations...
My Husband loves to go for walks, but passing cars frighten him. Was he hit at some point in his life?
My Husband loves to play with other animals, but is terrified of cats. Did he get swiped by a vicious cat? (okay, so I know that story. He did get clawed- most likely. By my cat. Oops)
My Husband loves to play outside, but doesn't like to be outside alone. Was he left alone a lot and is scared he'll be left again?
My Husband knows what no means. Was he told no a lot, or has he been trained in some manner?
These are just a few things I have noticed and learned so far. As he continues to tell his stories and add to his collection, I'll be sure to share.

I recently watched a TedTalk about single stories and it was so interesting to hear and recognize how we are all guilty of playing into stereotypes around the world because we only hear a single story or chose to listen to a single story. This phenomena occurs for everything- people, groups of people, countries, political parties, animals, companies, courses... and the list goes on. 

So I'm challenging myself to not stop at the single story being told. I will attempt to dive deeper to learn more about the stories being told.

It makes me wonder what stories Hubs is gathering from my actions or inactions...