This post is a bit of a deviation. It isn't about my kids, and it is actually a reflection looking back 7 years.
Seven years ago is a LONG time. My kids were still little. Sydney was still with us and Wally wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye. No one had heard of COVID. And yet each year when this post appears in my Facebook Memories, I'm zapped back as if I stepped into a time machine.
This one is important, so I want to save and share it here, because more and more I think people are isolating themselves from the larger world. People never look up from their phone. They don't interact with one another. Families will all sit in the same room together, ignoring one another while they scroll and binge, focused only on their phones. And I think we're all missing out. On what? Well... just read on and you'll see:
August 6, 2019
This morning I got up, same as always. I threw on clothes, changed over some laundry, and got ready to take the dogs on our daily walk. I grabbed my phone and earbuds and started a podcast, and headed out the door.
As I neared the corner, a woman was approaching. I didn't recognize her, but there's always people walking in our neighborhood, so I didn't give it a second thought. I paused to let her pass, but she stopped. I motioned to let her know she could go first (some people are less comfortable with dogs), but she just stayed there.
She smiled and approached and said very quietly how much she loves dogs. I smiled back and paused my podcast so I could say a quick hello and then get going. I needed to get the dogs walked, change some laundry over, make lunches for the kids, and get to work. I had 1,000 things on my mind already. But I paused.
And this little woman told me how much she missed her little brown dog. I quickly realized that while I'd never met her, I've seen and spoken with her husband and son for nearly a decade. And the "little brown dog" she so quietly mentioned was Casper. A puggle that was Sydney's best friend (no joke) and who we heard passed away about a month ago.
This poor woman was clearly trying so hard to hold it together, but the sight of my dogs had literally stopped her in her tracks. She reached down to fluff Sydney's fur and fondle her ears. And her eyes filled with tears as she softly told me about Casper's passing, and how incredibly lonely she was. That she used to sleep with her dog every night, and now the bed feels so empty because her husband is away working and Casper just isn't there. That he was her best little friend and he's just gone.
My heart broke for her. She was trying so hard to keep getting through the days, and was pouring out a small piece of her soul to me. Sharing her pain with a total stranger because she just couldn't keep it all inside.
I hugged her, and she said she had to go - she was walking over to her son's house to watch the baby. And while I was saddened, I was also so incredibly glad that I was in the right place at the right time. That my dogs could perhaps provide some small comfort just by being there. And that I took the moment to stop for her.
Pay it forward, people. Being decent and kind doesn't take much effort. If you have a chance to make a great sweeping change and make the world a better place on a global scale, do it. But know that you can also change the world on a much smaller stage. And that's no less important.
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