Adorable

There was once a creature name Sweetie Pie who had every reason to believe it was a Shih-tzu. It had never been called anything else, except Sweetie Pie, of course, so there was no reason to believe otherwise.

Sweetie Pie played with the other Shih-tzus and it was okay. Not spectacular, or outstanding, but who's to know what causes that?

Of course there were other things that went less spectacularly. When Sweetie Pie entered a church and tried to talk to them, he was escorted out the door without any fanfare at all. The same thing happened in another church and another and every other one he entered. Once he began talking, they seemed to realize that a Shih-tzu could not be one of them. They just didn't understand him.

That brings up another subject. Sweetie Pie had always been called a he, but he had no real affinity for other hes, and really not for most she's. He found this rather difficult to discuss this with anyone who might really be able to explain it to him, so he just assumed he would eventually figure out what he was.

The one thing he really wasn't, was happy. He wasn't always unhappy. He just wasn't kick up your heels, let your ears flap in the wind ecstatic! He began to think of himself rather as a loner and did discover that he was happier being alone than feeling at odds with whatever else was going on. There is a certain amount of pleasure in peace no matter the cost.

So it was that one day he was walking through the tall grass when he heard a voice telling a story. Sweetie Pie listened to the story and enjoyed it very much, so he got into the habit of going back to listen more often and one day he even ventured to add his voice to the silence that followed the story and tell a story of his own.

It was the beginning of a very strange and very satisfying friendship. Sweetie Pie never told anyone about it because everyone would tell him that Shih-Tzus needed to hang out with real Shih-tzus and not some disembodied voice, but as time passed he realized he was actually quite happy. He and the voice began talking about all sorts of things and eventually the voice told him it was a rabbit! Sweetie Pie didn't want to tell the rabbit he was a shih-tzu, but to be fair, he finally did and it didn't matter at all.

They went right on telling stories and sharing their thoughts until one day Sweetie Pie frolicked out into the meadow while telling his story and there was a very nice looking rabbit. Now he had always been told that rabbits ran away from dogs, but this rabbit didn't. It just sat there looking at him with a shocked expression on its face, until it finally asked, "Are you Sweetie Pie?"

Nodding, he still waited for it to run away, but instead, it ran right towards him! "Sweetie Pie! It's me! It's the Disembodied Voice!" Then rolling on the ground it giggled and wriggled its nose.

"You?" Sweetie Pie was astounded. He had never seen anyone so sweet in his entire life, but he asked, "Why aren't you running away from me?"

"Well, why should I do that?" Asked The DE.

"Be....because...I'm a shih-tzu." He blurted out the words very quickly then prepared himself to feel sad when The DE left.

Only he didn't go anywhere. "You are?" The DE cocked its head and looked at him closely. "I think you are a rabbit. A very sweet, rather homely rabbit, but a rabbit none the less."

"I don't think so." He stated, a bit uncertainly.

"Well, I don't care anyway." Giggled The DE. "I don't care if you're a rabbit, or a dog. I don't care if you are a he, or a she, sad, or gay, straight, or as round as the sun. Whatever you are, you are my bestest friend in the whole wide world."

"I am?" Sweetie Pie felt all warm and quite happy, but he wasn't sure what to make of all this. Finally, for lack of anything else to say he asked, "Well what's your real name DE?"

"Adorable!" Shouted his friend and they both frolicked around the field giggling and kicking up their heels! And they did that forever more.

Now if I had to come up with a moral for this story I guess it would be: It doesn't matter what anyone else says you are, it matters where your heart connects, but maybe it's just as simple as this too: Best friends don't have to be anything -- except happy.