No small gift
Happy dog in Eastham, Massachusetts, by John Phelan via Wikimedia Commons
“Because of the dog’s joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as well as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born.” — Mary Oliver
My life is not yet ready to adopt another dog into our home, but that does not prevent me from enjoying every encounter, however brief, with these delightful creatures. For me, dogs are therapeutic, providing instant joy. I am so grateful they are part of our world. Please give my personal thanks to the next one you see.
This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
Defeat Despair 
Good morning, Julia!
I wish my friends were as happy to see me as this stranger’s dog appears to be!
It’s true – dogs can be “instant joy.”
They’re inspiring.
Is that dog not precious? Just looking at him makes me happy!
Good morning Julia and Matt. Early morning email time, enjoying Defeat Despair! I saw a photo of Jack, now 12 or 13 years old. The photo of Mr and Mrs Clown touched my heart since Mrs Clown swam for the last time about 6 months ago! She had a wonderful 34 aquatic years with us! 🧡 Thank you for your sweet note recently. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the calendar and porches. Isn’t every porch a gift, a place to join all our friends, and go to another locale every month. I hope you’re doing well, as you continue your long recovery from the bathroom fall! By the way, Bill is having knee replacement surgery tomorrow and we so look forward to the relief! Take care and remember that the road to a friend’s house is never long! Love crosses the miles…. Sheila
Oh Sheila, I’m so sorry to hear about Mrs. Clown! But 34 years is a long time to have a finny friend! How did Bill’s knee replacement go? I see my prosthodontist in the morning, but I keep hoping that the worst of the ordeal that started almost exactly two years ago is behind me. Still not 100% done but I’ve come a long ways, and Matthew’s near-death battle that took up so many months last year made my issues less of a consideration. We’re all still standing, literally or figuratively, and for that I give thanks. Sipping some herbal tea with you on the (chilly) virtual verandah this March evening!
Julia, so glad you received the comment. Some comments are not reaching you, WordPress has changed!
Sheila, I’m super late responding to comments but I don’t know what is happening to the ones that don’t eventually show up here. Yes, WordPress has changed, and NOT in a good way, in my opinion. I can still manage to work around many of their enforced changes, but I miss the old days. Feel free to email me any comments that don’t seem to reach me– although, a lot of emails seem to be getting lost lately too…I can’t figure out if it’s me, technology, or both! Probably both.