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For today, may the leftover salt from life’s bag of unfortunate events miss your still open wounds of the past. Use your hope of the future as a bandage to get through what is today … and know tomorrow will be one step closer to healing – in whatever way your heart leads you to believe …

A family I know had to put down their dog today. Really nice family. Really hard day.
The end of anything special is difficult to handle almost all the time. Special lives of special pets are no exception. Relationships with our pets live within smaller spans of time relative to our human lifetimes. Because of this, we feel a special bond, a tighter connection, a sense of urgency…to make every moment count.
And then the day comes. The really hard day.
No more urgency.
But yet, the bond and connection still remain. They will always be here.
And so will Rocky. He was a good dog.

I adore appropriately named towns. Just passed “Centerville” – almost halfway between Bedford, Pa and Cumberland, Md…

It’s a ville – in the center of somewhere. Never mind where I’m headed. Those familiar with these parts know the destination.

Centerville has an intersection / gas station / ice cream stop place. Today?… a dog in an open jeep looking at me. Happy to be seatbelted in because he knows his owner loves him enough to keep him safe.

That’s pretty much it. Centerville. A place … momentarily…for me to be centered. I guess that’s why it’s appropriately named such… and why I adore places like it.

I saw a moment today. Two individuals – possibly in their fifties – a few feet behind an old tree, hugging each other. As I drove by, I could see only her face, not his. She was sad. Didn’t know the circumstances of the embrace. Not to be nosy, but I wish I had the advantage – albeit briefly – of being that tree….just to witness, a bit longer, the compassion and grace being extended to her…and, quite possibly, more of the back story – which is not really important, anyway, to the “why” of this post.
He gave his time. She needed a hug. Big, small, relevant, or meaningless to anyone else…..to them it was a moment that mattered. A moment behind a tree on an lazy Labor Day afternoon.
I’ve wasted many moments doing stupid things. It’s hard for any of us to get around without tripping over our own fallibilities. We get sad and need hugs. We see friends who are sad and need hugs.
Maybe, just maybe, all of us can look for an old tree once in a while. That way, when we hug someone who needs it, a fifty-something dude can drive by, see it, and pay it forward on Facebook during a lazy Labor Day evening.

Those who love you can’t hear your beautiful sounds if the silence surrounding you is louder.
Those who love you can’t see the brilliance in your heart if the darkness inside you is brighter.
Those who love you can’t hold your warm hands if the moment you need them is unyielding.
Those who love you can’t taste your sweet prose if the sourness of your life remains uncorked.

For the only way to sense your magnificence is to embrace the experience of your life. All of it.

Be willing to shout through the silence, “I am here and need someone, who loves me, to listen!”

Be willing to say, “My heart is sad. Through my tears, listen to what I say.”

Be willing to say, “Hold my hand. I need the support.”

Be willing to say, “I am using the words only I can use. You are holding my hand. Listening. I am grateful. Thank you.”

In the challenge of hiding all your bad moments year, after year, after year…you missed the days that could have been fulfilling and joyous.

Taste, see, smell, and hear. All of it. The good AND the bad.

Revisit. Touch again. This is, now, your new hope.