Once a week, we go grocery shopping together. My husband, Joseph and I got a late start and we also needed dog food so we stopped at Petsmart on the way home. It was about ten minutes before closing. The lights were dim but there were still some cars in the parking lot. As we walked in and realized two people were just finishing up to close, we decided to divide and conquer. He will go in the back and get the food, and I will stay up front and look for treats. I started turning packages over to see the ingredients, looking for words like: no- wheat, moist, small, and for puppies. Like finding a needle in a haystack I perused the shelves with the vigor of finding a small tax deduction. I laughed at myself thinking of all the energy I was putting into the quality of this puppy food. After all, it's just a dog! But, of course, it is hard not to get caught up in the nurturing aspect of owning a pet. I now had insight into what my clients and friends go through with their pets. I even had clients that bickered over who would take care of their dogs if they should die. All of a sudden, it is quite understandable to me.
"That's our song!" I heard a shout as I turned around and saw Joseph put the dog food down and grabbed me around my waist. It was our wedding song, "Have you ever loved a woman?" playing in the store. We hadn't heard it in a very long time, and I used to grab him and make him dance with me every time it played. (He hates to dance.) Now he was grabbing me and I lifted up my cane and we danced rather ackwardly in the store. It was a wonderful moment for me and very funny. Now that I am unable to dance, he wants to dance. Go figure. The moment was broken by the clerk who looked impatiently at us behind the register. We quickly broke apart and moved our stuff to him to check out. "It's our wedding song and our anniversary is coming up," Joseph explained to the clerk. The clerk smiled. "How many years?"
"It's been nine years." Joseph replied.
"Ten this July." I stated, as we grabbed our goods and left.
Congratulations, said the clerk smiling.
Thanks, I said. Every year is a good year.