Puppy

The chubby bellied brown pup kept climbing out of its cardboard box cage. I watched from across the street as the woman selling the puppies would continuously put the pup back in the box only to have it flop out again.

The pup was smart. It knew that it had to be free of the box to get to its goal. It was soon picked up by a loving family and it licked their faces as they each took a turn holding it.

The pup was like me. I knew I wasn't staying in my box. People kept putting me back in. They would tell me I couldn't leave. I was smart, but I was wrong to try. The world didn't allow me to stray from my box.

No matter how many times they shoved me back, I would work until I hefted myself out and ventured into the new and unknown world to see for myself if what everyone said was right. It may hurt me. It may in fact be the wrong place for me.

But I was not meant to to stay in the box forever. My home was elsewhere. My path there unknown and nontraditional, but I would find where I belonged.