Sassy Love

This morning I got a call from a young woman named Tina. She called to thank me for giving her grandmother a stray dog I found. She said her family was worried because for several years they thought she was unable to live alone and care for herself, but since I offered her the dog, a sweet little Border Collie mutt named Sassy, her Grandmother is a whole new person now. Tina said she has come alive, started walking the dog every day, eating better, cleaning her house and even brings the dog to all family events, and even insisted on allowing Sassy to attend a recent family wedding! Tina told me that nobody in their family had ever had dogs, but since her Grandmother got Sassy, she and her mother both adopted shelter dogs! Of course, you know me, I started getting weepy at the thought of one lonely stray dog having such a powerful effect, and being the cause that saved the life of two more lonely dogs. I don't need to be thanked, I told her, the knowledge of the singular power of a dog's love to transform a whole family, bring joy to an elderly shut-in, and save two death-row shelter dogs is all the thanks I needed.