old dog

Every morning, while getting ready for work, Chris and I wait to see Old Dog walk past. We are both animal lovers, and this dog steals our hearts. He is a chocolate lab, and is so old that his fur is matted and crusty. He walks so slow that his owner brings along a mug of coffee to nurse as they shuffle down the street. They live on the corner of our street...their walk takes them about 5 driveways down the road, and then they turn to make their slow way back.

Old Dog's owner has other, younger labs as well. He takes them out running, separately from Old Dog. They are beautiful dogs, but we are never quite as excited to see them as we are Old Dog!

We have never met Old Dog...yet every morning, one of us would declare excitedly, "There's Old Dog!" and the other would come running to watch out the window. We are sure that he is the sweetest old thang ever. We're tempted to head down the street, knock on the door, and ask to meet him.

A few weeks ago, one of us thought out loud, "Hmm...it's been a few days since I've seen Old Dog." And then we started to notice that those days turned into weeks. It has now been weeks since we've seen Old Dog. And we frequently worry about him. We really want to knock on that door now, just to make sure he's ok. Just to make sure he is still alive. How do you do that, though? How do you knock and say, "Excuse me, we've been watching you and your old dog walk every morning for the past year and a half...and we've noticed recently that you two aren't walking anymore...can you please reassure us that he is still alive and kicking?"

I like to believe that perhaps Old Dog's owner (who is a doctor of some sort) is working a different shift now, and has to walk at a different hour. That's a good thought, right? I'm sticking with that one...