While my dog being sick is a horrible thing, it made me think of all the years he has been in our family.  My wife and I have had him longer than we have had our kids and a few months short of the time we have been married.  Our dog has shared our pain and our happiness, our joy and our sorrow. He had shared the birth of our children and the purchase of our house.  He undoubtably has helped make our house our home. He has been our companion in times of loneliness and sorrow as well as shared the happy times we spend with friends and family.

I specifically remember having to go out and walk the dogs (yea, I have 2 of them) on the days following 9/11.  This was before we had kids and I recall enjoying these walks even more than usual.  The dogs provided a sense of normalcy during those restless days in NYC.  It was a potent form of therapy that helped me cope with the events.  The beauty of dogs is that they seem to sense when us humans need a little extra love.  Their calmness and tenderness can go a long way; maybe that is why they are so often used in therapies.

Like many dog owners do, I regularly take my dogs for granted.  Sometimes it take an illness to see the true meaning of things, but it is these ordinary things in daily life, like my dog napping by my feet, that makes life worth living.

Thanks for reading.

Picture of my dogs on flickr

The park was jumping.  You would have thought it was a summer’s day.  The dog run was full and the benches were packed.  The line at the Shake Shack was as long as it would normally be in the summer.  There was Frisbee playing, breast feeding, lunch hour gossiping and three people doing Tai Chi.  I opened my bag and slowly enjoyed my pizza and enjoyed one of the best NYC past times – people watching.  Being a fast eater by nature, I recall consciously eating slow and enjoying the moment.  This is NYC at it’s best, good street eating food and good parks to eat it in while you watch people go about their day.  The people you watch are both mundane and fascinating at the same time.  It is one of those ordinary things in daily life that makes life so wonderful.

Eataly http://eatalyny.com/ Go to the bakery or the focaccia area

Madison Square Park http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/ A spot near the Shake Shack by the sand is a great people watching spot

Shake Shack http://shakeshack.com/ Yea hard to comprehend the wait but you just have to try it.

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