I Am a Parent...Can You See the Difference?

We bring them home, small, helpless and we coo over them, figure out what they need when they cry, give them a blankie and love them...how we love them.
As they grow we learn how they speak to us in all their little ways. We know their favourite toys, what they like to eat and what each expression and glance means. We teach them manners, how to interact in the world, set their boundaries. We play with them, teach new skills, guide them, protect them. And, oh, how we love them.
Soon, they develop their own personality and become more independent. We argue with them, they push back, we get angry with them and we wonder what it was that we did wrong. But we love them even more, for they have taught us. We have learned from them more patience, more wisdom and the knowledge that our capacity to love knows no bounds.
All too soon they leave our homes and our hearts break as they go. We don't know what to do with our time, our hands, our love. But we, too, must keep going. So we treasure the memories, and all that they have given to us and we live.
I am a parent...my child has four legs, a tail, soft fur, and a huge heart. Could you see the difference?