Crab Apples and Sunsets

Sometimes you just don't know where the energy is going to come from to make it through the day, to open the door at home and be greeted by the whining and tail wagging, the jumping and wrist clutching. Sometimes you're just not as excited to see your friend as he is to see you, and all you want to do is take off your shoes, throw yourself onto the couch and nap away the rest of the terrible day. But, you find the energy to push into the house, change your clothes, grab the doggy bags and head out on a walk.

Why is it I'm always so surprised to discover I have the energy to take Duncan out, even on the worst of days? Why don't I remember that he's my reward and has so much more to offer than the couch and re-runs of Friends or Will & Grace? How do I forget so easily?

And how is that a nice walk in a new neighborhood, down streets I've never seen, with Duncan leading the way can reinvigorate me like nothing else? I occasionally let him decide where we're going and today he took me some place new, across Bowles, then across Pierce, down a tree-lined side street where crab apples covered the yards and sidewalks and lavender grew in massive clumps beside every mailbox. We walked for well over an hour, turning down more side streets until I hardly knew where we were. I couldn't even hear the traffic. All I knew was the light was getting soft, the clouding sky was turning a beautiful shade of orange and that neither of us was in any hurry to turn back. It was quiet in the way that only older 70's-built neighborhoods can be. Occasionally our walk was interrupted by the barking of a dog from a backyard, or the scampering of a squirrel in the leaves under a corner pine tree, but mostly it was just Duncan and me, the mashed bodies of crab apples littering the lawns, sidewalks and streets, and that beautiful sunset.

It was exactly what I needed, and even though I know I'll forget, I should never doubt my dog again.