Giving

Such a response to the last entry that I thought maybe I should put another out there for you all eh? (Canadian thing eh!) My friends get it.

I received a phone call from my wife the other day, which is not unusual in itself, but the subject of this one was. It wasn’t the standard “how are things? What are you guys up to?” kind of conversation. And buy “guys” she means myself and our dog. I spend a lot of time with our dog. More than most people including my wife come to think about it. Not intentionally from her but intentionally from most people. Good thing she doesn’t read my blog lol. Just in case…love you sweetheart.

She began telling me of a co-worker who’s mother-in-law had suffered a stroke recently (wow that’s a lot of hyphens in a row) and was wondering if we could help out. My wife being the person she is, that I would never change in any way whatsoever by the way, agreed to help immediately without getting any further information. Oh yeah, just like that. Whatever was needed we would surely do our best to provide or at the very least help with. You notice that “her” response was “we” right? That includes me by proxy. Which mostly I don’t mind. But in this case I felt privileged to be included. That’s the perspective potion of our program this evening. Thank God she’s not a vegetarian.

As it turns out my wife’s co-workers mother-in law loves dogs (that sounds so unintentionally hillbilly). And as it turns out, we have a wonderful dog. Go figure. Hence the reason for the phone call.

I failed to mention that the aforementioned person of topic resides in an assisted care facility. A rather sweet elder woman from a long forgotten era where the simplest of things can bring the greatest enjoyment to an open mind.

Remember the part about us having a dog? As it turns out, what she wanted to experience was to be able to watch a truly happy dog playing in the park that she could view out of the third floor vantage point that she frequented. My wife’s co-worker, having met our dog on numerous occasions, considered us, or should I say, considered our dog right away.

The only question for me that remained was…when? “Of course” were the first two words out of my mouth. Considering the nature of the request this was one of those times where today, even, right now was not out of the question. I can play with my dog anywhere and pretty much do, but if it will bring joy to someone just to be able to watch that, count me in. I’m sure my dog would agree.

So we loaded up, so to speak, and ventured to the designated park slash vantage point. I brought all of the favorite toys too. Not just the ball to throw for him to fetch, noooo. I brought the ball flinger, the kick-fetch ball, the football, and the ever so popular and most exciting, which is always saved for last…the frisby. That’s right…we have a frisby dog. To be honest, he’s getting much better at it.

The point is that I don’t think I have seen such pleasure from a facial expression in a very long time. The simple act of playing with my dog within deliberate view of someone who truly enjoyed watching it blew me away. I feel very fortunate to have been able to do this. I told my wife to let them know if they ever wanted me to do it again, please do not hesitate. Actually, please do call again.

It was my pleasure and thank you for allowing me to do this.

Merry Christmas everyone.