Life’s Ups and Downs
It’s so interesting to see what life brings us on any given day. A couple of weeks back, after a great Friday at work, I arrived home and, as usual, watched the nightly procession of dogs and their owners stroll past my kitchen window. This has been the same routine for 23 years. We have a lot of dog walking happening on our street, and it always makes me smile. Then I enjoyed a nice dinner with my wife and 17-year-old daughter. Pretty great day.
Late that night, at about 1:00 am, my daughter came into our room and said she had to leave to help a friend who was house- sitting down the street—the people’s dog had gotten out and was missing. She was off to look for the dog with her friend and I thought about getting up to help her. She then came home and said she needed flashlights. Now I knew I needed to help. I got up, got dressed and grabbed a leash. I jumped in my truck and started cruising up and down the streets in hopes of finding the missing dog. I noticed my daughter, who was on foot, and asked her for a name and description. The dog’s name was Suki, and she was a “grey and white scruffy little dog.”
My daughter’s friend was a block over and her brother was on his way to help as well. We continued to search block by block and had a real sense of panic and urgency, as it had been more than an hour and there was still no sign of Suki. I expanded my search area figuring she could run quite far in that time frame. As I came up the main road a couple blocks from her home, I noticed what I thought was a dead cat in the middle of the main street through town. I flipped a U-turn and pulled up only to look out the window and see a grey and white little dog which had been killed by a car. I pulled over and picked her up. Her body was still warm and had likely just been hit. This became one of the hardest phone calls I’ve ever made. I called my daughter to tell her that I had found Suki, and she was dead. She screamed “No!” Then she yelled for her friend, and they came running from a few blocks away as I sat hunched over this poor beautiful little dog. We sat with her crying and in shock. Full of guilt and pain. This was a total tragedy.
Suki’s family was due back the next day and they were in-formed of the tragic news before they came home. Their response gives me a renewed sense of faith in humanity as they exemplify how good people can be. They said how sorry they were that this had happened and assured the young lady that it was not her fault. The following day after they arrived home, they wanted to meet with my daughter’s friend, her brother and parents, to once again try and comfort them and emphasize how sorry they were that this happened, and to thank them. The next evening, there was a knock at our door and it was Suki’s family. They came to our house to thank my daughter and me for trying to find Suki. I cried for the first time in years. It helped us all heal to have this kind of compassion from total strangers. Despite their sadness and grief, they brought us fresh green beans from their garden and, more importantly, they brought us words that, in this case, mean so much: “thank you” and “we are sorry.” Truly amazing people. Proof that there are really great, caring people among us.