When I moved across the street, my grandson David and wife Jennifer bought my old house.  And they have a huge, sweet, friendly female Lab named Carley who comes over, crosses the street, to see me now and then.

Carley is afraid of water.  Which is hilarious, since Labrador  Retrievers are water dogs.  They fetch ducks you have shot, bring them in from the water and lay them at your feet.  Anything 'water' is home to a Lab.

Not Carley.  So David and Jennifer took her over to Becky and Craig's pool to see if they could get her accustomed to the water, and maybe get in it.

It took coaxing to get Carley to put her feet on the first step down into the pool.  That was it.  She wasn't going any further.  Getting her feet wet was not a happy experience.  Carley didn't like that at all.

So David picked her up and carried her into the water.  She couldn't wait to get out--even though he was holding her and she was only slightly wet.

The next week they tried again.  She made it to the second step down, but trembled uncontrollably because she was so afraid.  

They expected for this water experiment to take a long, long time.  But the third time was a charm.  She went right in, swam in circles and decided that she was, indeed, a Labrador Retriever and water was her friend.

Sometimes we need a little help to discover who we are.  Carley is now a Labrador Retriever.  She just didn't know it at first.  She needed someone to help her figure out who she really was.

She is very proud of herself.