Little Dog

An injured dog with his owner.

Been thinking about this little guy for a while now and thought I would finally share.  I walk every day in my neighborhood.  Five miles.  Since I’ve been really ill, it was the only way I could begin to get my strength back.  I came to know my neighbors better and it helped not only physically but emotionally and mentally too. 

One day I was on my usual route and spotted  this older gentleman walking his little dog.  I always talk to the dogs because they usually walk right up to me. The owners may or they may just watch me interacting with their “kids”  As I got closer, the little creature was on his leash, sniffing around intrigued by everything, wagging his tail and looking at everything and everybody. 

He was however, not a normal dog.  His right leg was bent up underneath, backwards.  He was using his knee as a foot and obviously off balance a bit, but not troubled by it in the least.  I looked up at the guy walking him and asked, “oh, what happened to him?”  The guy replied, “ he’s a rescue that was going to be put down after he was in a car accident with his owner.  I’m fostering him because I just couldn’t let that happen.” 

The guys next words though were the ones that impacted me the most.  “This little guy isn’t troubled by his disability at all” , he said.  “He still loves to get out here, eats really well, and just enjoys his life without skipping a beat.”  Well, it was a big lesson for me. 

I have to admit feeling more than a little sorry for myself with my problems.  And right then decided I would enjoy life as it came, and even though I am a human who exists on another level, at least we seem to think so… this little guy was a symbol to me, that life, no matter how it happens to you, can still be a place of curiosity, and joy, and love.  Period.  Nothing more to say.  How could I ..the story tells it all.