How time slips away. It seems it was only yesterday that I was walking down to the corner store out on bustling Canal Street here in the little hidden barrio at the edge of downtown Houston when, to my surprise, I noticed a shadow other than my own at my heels in the glittering sunshine of that moment when I met my beloved “Little Joe.” He taught me many lessons, mainly lessons of unconditional love, undying loyalty, patience and forgiveness – deep things that dogs were put on this earth to model for us through their lives. This morning, Joe wouldn’t eat his breakfast and wouldn’t get up. The ER vet said that his lungs were ridden with cancer, and he was in pain and probably wouldn’t last the night. Today, my dear, huckleberry friend has gone on to a better place and has taught me his last lesson, a lesson of loss, which was a refresher course on how to endure.
I posted a picture of us at http://www.glennabell.com. Joe is lying on his back, looking up at me with those familiar, trusting brown eyes. Gleason is my big, white dog; Elmer is the little black one; and Lilly is the pretty one. We were all hunkering down for Hurricane Ike on my front porch in September of 2008 as I was preparing for my first trip to Nashville. What a happy time it was.
Thank you for reading this. I hope that you will take a minute to remember a gentle soul today.
Y’all come.