I made a mistake straight out of the box. I didn't wear a hat. Didn't think it would be that cold, but I had a warm, faux fur coat with a hood, and Miss Kia and I set out for the dog park.
Kia acts like we've been doing this for years instead of just over two months. She has the routines down pat. I love the clicking of her toes on the pavement of the driveway that separates my neighborhood from the park. She prances in excitement. We walk briskly in silence. She needs no directions or instructions. At the entrance, she turns right in, and we walk in side-by-side. We had the park to ourselves.
But this morning - it was the birds. The birds were singing everywhere. Even Kia noticed. Her ears were up. She ran ahead, just the length of the retractable leash, looking for the location of the dog whistle. But it was a bird, and he sounded exactly like he was calling her. She walked and trotted and ran all through the park this morning. As I watched her, I listened. There must have been 20 or more all singing at once, singing different songs, or at different places in the same song. It was glorious. It was beautiful. It was perfect.And there in the dog park, I had one of those moments. I was happy just to be alive. To be there to hear the birds in the early morning cold.
It didn't matter that I'm getting old, that it's too late to fix most of my mistakes. It didn't matter that I'm disabled or that I had a howling migraine that moment. It didn't matter that I have two elderly parents whose needs outpace my abilities. So most of my dreams aren't going to come true. So what? I was thankful just to be there in the dog park with this magnificent dog who rescued me, both of us listening to dozens of birds singing out their calls, watching this morning come alive.
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