A quote: “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ~~ E. M. Forster

I’ll start with a story …

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Mid-twenties, bad break-up, quit job, moved home. Or not quite home. The family summer cottage up a canyon within shouting distant of the ocean. Decidedly primitive – well-water, outhouse, no electricity and unseen from the highway below.

In other words, a perfect place to stew, rage, and eat worms.

My second week, I heard whimpering down the path to the beach and found a ball of fluff in the tall grass.

A puppy covered in burs and foxtails. I was shocked, picking her up and hurrying back to the cottage. I fed her scrambled eggs and carefully combed out her coat. Within the hour I was besotted.

We stayed the whole summer … Lucy grew into her big feet, a mutt of questionable parentage. I left the door open for her and she never strayed far. Sunrise and sunset, we walked the beach. She got me through the summer, to fall when we both went back to the real world of work and walks on a leash.

She was a great judge of character and when we both fell in love with Bill, Lucy walked the aisle, too.

There was always summer on the beach. The three of us, then four, then five. Lucy bounding along the surf with “her” children. Sleeping snuggled between sleeping bags on the cottage’s floor.

Her muzzle was gray, her eyes cloudy when her back legs started giving out. Lucy never complained, even as Bill carried her in his arms from the cottage to the beach for one last sunset.

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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license.