Nala

The first time I saw her I was washing dishes, my eyes wandering to the window and catching on our buckskin goat who was standing at the front gate. His nose gently reached towards hers, finding the openings in the metal pattern where they could touch. 

More vision than dog, she lay in the grass, blinking her eyes softly, one brown, the other so glacially blue it could be white. I watched them as I finished washing, gentle and yet unwavering in their conversation. 

She waited until I called my partner over and asked if he’d ever seen her before, knowing already the answer was no. If he had, he would have mentioned such a dog lived near us, just exactly like one I had told him I’d been dreaming of : a buttermilk colored protector with a coat thick enough to keep her warm while sleeping alongside our paddock at night. 

Once he opened the gate to let her in she made quick work of entering and exploring the property, with a skip in her step as though it wasn’t her first time here. Not five minutes had passed before he turned to me and said she’d already told him her name. Nala. A name that means “gift.” 

The topic of calling in new animals into our lives is one that comes up time and time again in my sessions over the years. “How will I know?” or “will my beloved on the other side help me find the next one?” and “How can I be sure I won’t overlook the right one?”

Each of these conversations and their specific answers are incredibly unique, yet the overarching theme is almost always one of trust. We don’t ever miss the right one, we will always know, even if it’s not right away, and yes, our animals on the other side love to help us, we need only let them. 

Nala’s entrance into our lives reminded me of this very kind of trust. That it is our job to do the dreaming, to follow the thread within to find what authentically it is we truly desire, and then to leave the details up to the Universe. I had a vision of a guardian breed, someone who would not only become my dear friend, but more so be aligned with our horse and goat, watching over them and lending confidence in the way only a dog can. 

The vision was clear, but I wasn’t yet called to take any action. I felt unhurried, trusting that I’d feel a pull in one direction or another when the time was right. In the end, I didn’t need to do more than open the door. 

The dog who arrived on her own is more perfect than one I could have described or sought out or raised myself. She rests lazily alongside our other animals, often in the hay my mare has left on the ground. She never tires of our goat, Ferdinand, and his constant insistence on playing with her; she even instigates it herself. 

She runs for hours alongside Salem and I, exploring desert hills and riverbanks, cornfields and small town roads, never tiring, and often disappearing into the brush and coming back soaking wet, a magnet for hidden water we’d otherwise never know about. 

She is the embodiment of authenticity. She does exactly what she wants, when she wants to, which divinely aligns with exactly what we need as a family. We have never walked her on a leash, or trained a behavior, and yet each day since that first one, a Friday the 13th, she has chosen to be with us. We have often left the gate open or let her out to see if she might prefer something or somewhere else, but she is always there at the gate, waiting.

Through my work I have the honor to witness incredible moments, many I’d call miracles, between humans and animals. And the wonder of it is, they never cease to amaze me. In the work I do with clients, and in the experiences within my own life. 

There are many ways to know and understand true magic in this world, but for me, there is none more profound than the magic that unfolds in relationship with our animals, and the very fact that we have the opportunity to live alongside each other. 

How very lucky we are.