The other day at a gas station, I noticed an older man staring at me. I continued pumping my gas and as I was finishing up he said, “Is that a Queensland heeler?” I looked back to see my two dogs hanging out the window. I assured him they both were and he asked, “Do you mind?” He stepped away from his car and walked over and proceeded to pet my dog. He then began to tell me all about the best dog he ever had who was also a heeler. I got right away that this dog was no longer with him when I saw the tears in his eyes, and then mine welled up too.
As we both drove off in opposite directions, those tears were still in my eyes. On my way home, I was reminded of the past weekend at the fair. I thought about the young girl at the 4-H auction who choked back tears as the auctioneer spoke with her in front of the crowd. It was at that moment that she figured out that this was the end of the road for her and her cow friend. I noticed her swollen eyes and red cheeks and realized she had been crying for some time and I teared up. I looked out at the crowd and saw many others dabbing tears with their sleeves.
Later that day I was in charge of comforting another little girl who was saying goodbye to her turkey. With all my accumulated adult wisdom, I tried to console her the best I could, but inside I wanted to sit right next to her in front of that turkey pen and cry too.
All this reflection had me a complete mess when I finally got home. I had just spent my entire drive home crying over the loss of these animals by people I hardly knew. Keeping in mind that I was exhausted from the weekend events and understandably emotional, I explained all of this to my husband to which he said, “You cried with a guy you didn’t know at a gas station?” (Yes, and about a turkey and a cow!) and I said, “Yes, but he is someone I’d like to know.”
People who cry over animals are special. To me it means that they recognize love in any of its forms. It means their hearts are tender. I want to live next door to these people. I want to work with them. I want to surround myself with people who cry over cows and dogs and turkeys and I especially want to be around people who empathize with them.
Bottom line: I cried at a gas station with a man I didn’t know over a dog. Her name was Digger. We were two humans acknowledging that at the end of the day the one thing that binds us all is the love of a good dog or a cow or, in some cases, a turkey.