A Casual Conversation At Wal-Mart

Yesterday I made a trip to Wal-mart in search of a B-12 supplement to help with the salt problem. A 60-ish year old man was already perusing the vitamin aisle when I arrived. As I stood comparing two different brands of B-12 tablets, he shook a bottle of Vitamin-C chewable tablets at me.

"Wish they made these in 1,000 milligrams," he said. "Wife can't swallow pills so I have to get her these to chew." He shook the bottle vigorously in my direction. 

"Yes, that would be nice," I replied. 

"One-thousand milligrams," he repeated. "Do you take vitamin C?"

"I don't," I said. "I'm bad about taking vitamins in general. I need to get better about that."

"I take a daily Centrum," he said. "Every day. And I take vitamin-C. Best thing for you. Can't go wrong with vitamin-C." He peered at me. "You don't take it?"

"No," I said. "But I'm sure I should." 

"Best thing. Centrum and vitamin-C."

I'd found what I needed. "Well, good luck," I said, leaving the aisle.

He waved. "Same to you. We all got to figure this out." 

The conversation has stuck with me. I don't know why. Just one of those random interactions that made me smile.  

An Amazing Story

I met with a friend yesterday and we got to talking about our pets. She told me the amazing story of how her dog saved her life.

Years ago, my friend had an Irish setter -- not known for being the most vicious of dogs. She was alone in the house one day and a guy came to the front door selling firewood. She opened the front door and was about to open the screen door when her Irish Setter, who had been napping peacefully at the top of the staircase, came charging down the stairs and hurled himself at the screen door. He broke through part of the screen and even broke some of the little glass windows around the door. The dog was snarling, barking, snapping, straining with his full body weight to get at the man.

"I can't open the door," said my friend to the man, as she tried to hold onto the dog's collar. This was not normal behavior for the dog. "I can't hold him back." 

The guy nodded and left. My friend later found out that he went to her neighbor's house up the road, where he proceeded to rape and kill the woman who answered the door. 

It takes my breath away to think about it. That could have been her. That could so easily have been her. Thank God for that dog. And for animal instinct. Animals KNOW. I don't know if they're psychic or if they can smell or sense things that we can't, but they know our hearts and our intentions. Always trust an animal. 

Now... go give your pet a hug. 

Cheers,

Dena