Last walk

A beautiful and touching entry guest written by the wonderful Abby. What a humbling way to start the day!

On my daily walk this morning with my little pup, we had the most humbling experience.  We typically walk the same route every morning.  Today, about half way down the causeway, I noticed an older gentleman with his dog.  The man had a scowl on his face that was unmistakable.  My instant thought was to kind of sigh and think oh dear, I bet I won’t get a good morning back from him.  As we got closer, Marley, my pup, kind of stopped, looked ahead and moved slowly forward.  This was unusual for him as normally he would either start barking or run the other direction.  He clearly sensed something I had yet to learn.

I noticed that the dog with the man was older, lots of gray around the face, walking extremely slowly and painfully.  Clearly his hips were giving him pain.  We finally caught up to them and I smiled.  “Good morning, isn’t a beautiful day?” I said to the man.  He half smiled with his furrowed brown and said “why yes, I guess you could say it is”.  Turns out, this was his last walk with his 19 year old Chow named Misty.  She has terminal cancer, painful joints and hip problems, can hardly walk on her own and has lost all control of other important life functions.  She was scheduled to cross the rainbow bridge around 4:00pm today.  She could only take about 2 steps and had to lie down and rest.  My heart just broke wide open. 

Misty was named after his late daughter who had died in a car accident 20 or so years ago.  He had just lost his wife 5 years ago.  The pain on his face was indescribable, yet there was love and light and hope in his moist eyes.  Marley and I turned around and walked with him and Misty, stopping with them every few steps to rest.  He knew it was the right thing to do and kept saying how amazing this dog had been for him throughout all of his life struggles.  His heart was clearly breaking, but his attitude and kindness blew me away.  He wanted to know all about me, where I lived, what my pup’s name was and what kind of dog he is.  He couldn’t say enough about the community we live in and how there is just something about the ocean that can bring you peace.  After everything he had gone though and will go through again today, he wanted to know about me.  Wow.

I will say a prayer for Misty this evening.  I will never, ever forget this encounter as long as I live.  What an amazing reminder to not judge anyone ever.  You never know what they are going through, have gone through or what they are about to go through in a few short hours.  Marley and Misty strolled together, and I with the man.  I hope our conversation helped his heart a little bit.  I hope he knows how much he and Misty affected me.  I hope he can somehow know that he reminded me to always be kind.  I hope I will get to see him again soon and perhaps give him a hug or be able to offer my ear or a hug if he should need it.  People never cease to amaze me.