Toward the end of each year, there’s always a tendency to look back, weigh your ups and downs, and then try to assess your fortunes for the year ahead. “Well, next year has certainly got to be better than the past year,” is one of the most common refrains, as if the two have any direct connection to the other and might somehow influence what lies ahead.
I try not to make that mistake, but still find myself looking back at the year gone by, assessing the good and the bad and pondering what I would like to do differently and what I need to improve upon. I’ll spare you most of those details, but will say that 2015 was, for me, an outstanding year in terms of strengthening old friendships and beginning new ones.
My new best friend was one I came to know and love quite by accident. I wrote about Buddy in a blog this past spring. His owners were traveling overseas and did not want to put him in a kennel. Their daughter and I were old friends, and when their usual dogsitter turned out to be unavailable, she contacted me. The owners’ home happened to be in Cape Cod, and I immediately said yes.
A short while later, with fishing gear and golf clubs packed, I arrived to take charge of Buddy. Buddy, as it turned out, took charge of me. But definitely in a good way.
Almost every day we went for walks on the Cape Cod beaches and explored new trails. Buddy met new dogs and new people with a similar equanimity, even when on one occasion a large dog charged up to about 16 inches from Buddy’s muzzle, growled, and bared his teeth. Buddy just stood his ground and the other dog soon turned away.
A rescue dog, Buddy was near death when found in the woods and brought to a shelter, where he was nurtured back to good health. A rough estimate was that he had been abandoned for more than a year.
If a dog has the capacity to appreciate life and be grateful for being able to put paw to ground, and I believe they do, then Buddy is that dog. And as I move on into the new year, I’m trying more and more to be that person. Thank you, Buddy.
