I visited my mom last Sunday. She had an unfortunate encounter with her living room floor on Saturday afternoon, the culprit being gravity. Luckily, she didn’t have to go to the ER, but since she took the fall directly on her face, she ended up with two black eyes, a swollen nose, bruises on her arms and legs, and a knot on her head. In short, the floor won this round. When my sister, Mary Ann, sent me a picture of her I winced. The next morning it looked worse, as black eyes are famous for. She was in good spirits, however, and didn’t let it get her down. Pun intended.
As I said, I was over to her house Sunday, and we enjoyed talking and eating some fresh yellow cake with chocolate icing she’d just baked. It was delicious, especially with the sweet cling peaches she put with it. I love drizzling the syrup over my cake and the taste of the peaches with warm cake. Makes me love my momma that much more, if that’s possible. While we visited, I let her teacup Yorkie, Sampson, outside to do his business and bark at the dangerous traffic that dared to pass his domain (the front yard). He’s a good little dog, and my momma loves him. Even when he has to be tucked into bed like a baby or curls up on her neck and shoulders and sleeps while she watches tv. We Stones are dog people for sure. I reckon that makes our dogs “people dogs” then, because they’re like family.
I left mom’s and was home in less than ten minutes. I’d no sooner gotten into my house when she called my cell. “Sampson got out again.” she said, exasperated. The one really irritating habit Sampson has is that he likes to escape the boundaries of his kingdom and run as fast as a gazelle down the street and into the street. He’s a fast little sucker, too. Well, here I go, back to moms. I remarked angrily that it’d teach that dog a lesson if he got hit by a car. Ouch. It looks even worse in print. I didn’t mean it. I was just ticked off. Still, it was wrong. On the ten-minute drive back to mom’s I realized it and said a little prayer for Sampson and mom. I knew I’d feel like a heal if something happened to him.
When I arrived at mom’s house there was a bicycle parked by her steps. Since I know my mom doesn’t ride, I hoped that one of the neighborhood kids had caught Sampson. Before I reached the door, my hopes were realized when not one, but two young people exited her house. A young man of maybe thirteen or fourteen, along with a girl of eight or nine came out of mom’s, smiling and carrying a tinfoil covered plate. Mom explained that they had seen Sampson out on the runner earlier and had driven their bike by later and saw him running around. They managed to catch the little rascal and brought him home. Mom rewarded their actions with some warm cake, much to their surprise. I introduced myself and they responded in kind. Unfortunately, I can’t recall their first names, but their last name was Cox, and they were siblings. They smiled, spoke respectfully, and were happy to help. Our conversation was full of “yes sir’s” and “you’re welcome” and I was impressed with their politeness and manners. I gave them a token cash reward and asked if they ever saw Sampson running loose again, they’d repeat the kind act. I knew they would anyway, but I wanted them to know how much I appreciated not having to chase that zippy little sucker. They assured us that they would and took their leave with fresh cake and new admirers.
To the parents of Mr. And Ms. Cox I say “well done”! You’re raising your kids right, and you deserve praise and appreciation for it. Your children are awesome individuals, and I applaud you, and them. With so much horrible news out there that get so much of our attention and grief, it’s great to meet some young people that are good folks. It encourages me and warms my heart to know that there’s hope out there. And it reminds me that I really should pray before I get agitated at little things (dogs included). It might just save me from running around in circles. That goes for just about everything in life. Pray about it. God blesses that every time. And sometimes people end up with cake, too.
God bless Y’all!
Rolling Stones 