Today while driving through town, I saw Cowboy. Every time I see Cowboy, I smile big from my belly button up.
I met Cowboy when I was a volunteer dog walker at the Humane Society. He was incarcerated. He didn't do anything wrong, he was kind and gentle, of average age, and had a great sense of humor. Most single women i know would gladly date a guy like that, but Cowboy is a dog, and he had gone unadopted for over 10 months. He's a whitish, tannish australian shepherd mix of some kind, and he looooves to walk. None of us could understand why he was still there after all those months. He could have become a lifer, an official ambassador, but he just wasn't that crazy about kids. He tolerated them, but with a pained look.
Then one day a kind looking, prematurely gray woman with kinda whitish, kinda tannish colored hair came in looking for a puppy. There weren't any, so she played with Sally the Boxer and Blue - a beagle from Hurricane Katrina, while Cowboy, as always, watched from an outdoor run. Then someone pulled Cowboy out to take him for a little afternoon walk and a quick game of ball in the play yard next to where the prematurely gray lady was meeting dogs--and it happened. That night Cowboy got his first overnight pass to go out on a trial visit. The trial got extended to a week and everyone asked about Cowboy every day. Was it working? Had anyone heard? More than 20 people all with fingers crossed, and it worked. It was a match. The woman worked at the local paper and Cowboy became a fixture there. A go-to-work dog, who's owner has since moved on to a new job, but there she and Cowboy were this morning both still smiling and walking. Cowboy with his usual tail-curled-over-the-back waggy walk giving the nod to every passerby on the chance that they were a fan from his former newspaper days. He just makes me smile. A happy ending kinda guy. Living proof that you just never know what a day might bring. MK
