Grant's Lessons: Part 5

As you might have read, Grant is not particularly fond of males. The only thing that he is more wary of is a man on a bike. We are not sure why Grant doesn't like bikes (bicycle or motorcycle are the same to him!). Our guess is that he was abused, in one of the houses before he chose Marybeth, by someone who had some kind of bike.

Grant also scares easily. So when a man on a bike surprises him, he loses it! In an effort to help him conquer this fear, Marybeth and I took him outside with her bike. Marybeth got on the bike and I walked Grant next to her while she rode. Grant was not particularly happy she was on the bike but seemed okay. Marybeth and I switched places after a few minutes.

Grant didn't know what to do. He looked at me saying...."I like Michael but I don't like him on that bike!" He struggled against his leash and ended up nipping me on the leg. It drew blood but just a small amount. I use the word "nip" deliberately. I have no doubts that Grant could have ripped my leg to shreds if he chose to!

His experiences with bikes overrode his love (or tolerance in case Grant is reading this...you never know what he might do!) for me. He couldn't see beyond all his experiences in the past to the reality of me on the bike. I wasn't going to hurt him, I wasn't going to use the bike to taunt him. I simply wanted him to see that someone on a bike wasn't a horrible thing. He couldn't get past the idea that my experience in the past must repeat itself today. I think all of us have those kind of things in our lives. Experiences that scare us and color our reality so we don't see what is truly happening. And, we can't open ourselves up to the possibility that things can change!

It is a challenge to take a step back, not let our past color our present and open ourselves for possibilities in the present. Much easier said than done though.

In this experience, we saw two things:
1. Grant loves Marybeth more than me!
2. Just because our past experience tell us something, it doesn't mean it is true nor does it always fit the current situation.

Thanks G, you, like the rest of us, have much to learn! Marybeth and I will keep working with you....if you can conquer this, so can the rest of us.

Thanks for the inspiration!