The Mission

The dog park.  That is where I first met her.  Well, sort of.  She was in the dog park, a fenced in area filled with mulch, with her dog.  It was three years ago, maybe a little longer.  Three years, how time flies.  Sometimes it seems like yesterday and other times it seems like decades.  

We had not been here, in this new place, for very long.  Runtly, the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier, and I were just beginning to learn the rules of life in the complex.  Although he was trained with a shock collar to stay close, in this place he was supposed to be on a leash, at all times, when outdoors.  I rarely took him into the dog park because he would get bored easily and when that happened he would hop onto the people bench and jump over the fence.  

The day I met her, I'll call her Nellie, although that is not the name that came to mind when we first met, Runtly was not on a leash.  He did have his training collar on and when he saw Nellie's dog in the dog park, he headed that way.  

It was nearly like a scene out of the movie "Seven" with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt.  The movie is a crime/thriller and near the end, Brad can be heard screaming, "What's in the box?" over and over.  Each time he says it, his voice gets higher and shriller.

"Get your dog on a leash!" were the first words I heard.  Then it came again, but louder.  As I tried to tell her I was not bringing him into the dog park, "Get your dog on a leash!" had climbed another octave.  It was then that I dubbed her Crazy Old Bat.

I am like a moth to a flame with people like that.  I need to know what makes them act the way they do.  What was is that made them in such a bad mood that day?  Or maybe they are like that all the time.  The latter seemed to be the norm with Nellie, she wasn't just a crazy old bat, she was a grouchy old bat too.

A few months passed without incident, but we had not encountered Nellie either.  When Runtly and I began to walk the outer edges of this place, we discovered where Nellie lived.  At first, when she would see us approaching, she would scramble to get herself and the dog back inside.  But one day, she didn't see us and by the time she did, it was too late.  "Good morning!", I chimed and we kept right on walking.  She may have grunted in return, but I would not put money on that.

Each time we would get close enough to Nellie and her dog, I would always speak.  After a really long time, she would actually return the same greeting.

Three years have passed, Nellie and her dog are in the dog park.  Runtly, on a leash, and I are walking in that direction. "Hi there!"
were the first words I heard.  Yes, Nellie spoke first!  Not wanting to wear out my welcome too soon, I answered and we kept on walking.  She gave me a parting shot...."It's a beautiful day!"  As we turned to go down the path that runs between the tall trees, I thought to myself, yes Nellie, it certainly is.

The mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find that person whom you dislike the very most and give them a kind word.  Relax, nowhere in the rules does it say that later on you will have to help pick out their curtains.  But, a little kindness goes a long way and it works in each direction.  Plant the seed and be patient.  Sometimes it takes them a really long time to sprout.