Chewing the Fat

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a dog person. My wife and I have three Chihuahuas and yes a cat. So, I guess I am a dog person and a cat person in one. Some of my earliest memories are of my dogs. I have had many different breeds and can say I have never owned a bad dog.
One of the wonderful things about a dog is that they love you unconditionally. Everyday when I come home our three dogs seem to beg for me to sit down so they can jump up in my lap to greet me. I guess we could really learn a lot from a dog.
When I was in High School (yes they had high school back then) I lived in the home of my wife's parents. They had taken me in for the last year of high school and treated me like their own child. My wife's sister had a small dog, a Pomeranian to be exact. Precious was the dogs name and she had a big personality. I know that dogs just like people really want to be accepted. Each personality will demonstrate the desire for acceptance in a unique way. Some dogs will beg, some will whine, others will bring you gifts. Precious had determined the best way to my heart was with gifts.
Now, I love a thoughtful gift as much as anyone. Moreover, I know that Precious put a lot of thought into the gift she got for me.
What gift could a dog possibly give? The previously mentioned "love" comes to mind immediately as I am sure it did for you as well. Certainly Precious always offered that, except for the time I tried to move her food dish, then she offered correction and guidance. The gift I speak of here is not the unconditional love nor the correction and guidance.
Precious was a lap dog, she would jump into your lap each time you would sit down. Moreover, like many dogs, OK well, all dogs she loved table hand outs. So, she often would get a taste of what ever we were having for dinner. I never really thought about what she was doing with these little tasty bits of handouts. I assumed she was eating them all, after all that is what dogs do. But Precious had far to much love to be so selfish.
My bedroom was the closest bedroom to the kitchen. Each member of the family was on a different schedule therefore there was times when I could sleep in when others had to get up earlier. When those days came at times Precious would come and sleep in with me. As a typical guy, I would make my bed the "guy way". Which is to say, I would throw the sheet and comforter up and kinda straiten them.
One night I went to bed and fell asleep rather quickly. I am not sure what time it was, but everyone was already in bed when I found the gift. I remember rolling over and feeling this lump, something in the middle of my back between me and the bed. My first thought was that the sheet had come off the mattress and knotted up some way, so in the dark I reached behind me to smooth the sheet. And there it was, the gift.
As I touched it I felt a small greasy blob. Ahhhh! was my response. What in the world was this, this thing. So I turned on the light. Precious really did love me, she had taken one of her table tidbits and left it for me in the middle of the bed, it was a 1/2 inch cube of beef fat. Yep! and it was only mildly chewed on, so I am sure that most of the flavor was still there.
So, what is the lesson here. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. I could not be mad at Precious because clearly she loved me.