just the other day.....

     The other day, it was noon, and I was rushing home for lunch.  I had just enough time to get there, eat, and rush back.  Anyway, just as I pull out of the driveway heading home, I end up behind a slow moving vehicle ahead of me.  There was no way around it, and as perspiration started to form on my brow, I realized I was following a large car with a curtain in the rear window!  And it was pulled to one side, because it was open.  I pulled closer, and as I brought the rear window into view, I was looking at a casket, draped with the red and white stripes of our country's flag!  I was following a hearse! I slowed and felt like pulling over, but I had no way of knowing if I were in a precession or not.  The car's left blinker came on and slowly it pulled into the cemetery.  As I passed, I looked in my rear view mirror and no other car was following it.  I was saddened dearly to the point of trying to turn around so someone would be at that grave site today!  I could not make the turn and went home.  I sat in the living room for my lunch break and finally went back to work.  I couldn't help but think what we do and don't take for granted.  What has become important in our lives, and the things we have cast aside in our haste.  I felt truly saddened for all soldiers and their families.  I carried this guilt with me as I rounded the turn to pass the cemetery.....to my amazement....there must have been forty to fifty cars at that site!  Multitudes had gathered to see the soldier off and say their goodbyes.  I slowed as I passed and watched as he was laid to rest.  I will never forget that day....just the other day.

     The other day, our Shadow left us.  He was our friend of 13 years.  He was Malamute and Wolf, and a person....a dear part of our family.  He was so gentle and yet had a 'presence'. It took days before I could clean up his toys, bowl, old carpet pieces, and his big, brown, cedar pillow that he loved so much.  I had to continuously stop because my eyes kept watering up.    THey are watering now while I write this.  My wife if doing better now,  but she is working too hard. And there is one less person happy to see her when she gets home.  We miss him so much....we lost him....just the other day.

     The other day, I was getting tired, and just knew it was quitting time.  like most people, I got a little extra zip in my step as I entered my office, knowing I was going home.  It was then that I looked up at the clock, and realized I was mistaken, I had one more hour to go!  I felt a little foolish, and if it were not for the fact that the one person who knows time and has a sense about these things, got up from his chair, looked in my direction, and said "it's time to go, let's get going".  I just stood and looked at him, and after seeing the look of puzzlement on my face, it took him a few seconds, but he finally turned and looked at the clock hanging on the wall.  The clock was stopped!  And he said so, " come on you!  the clock has stopped". Before I could say a word, the second hand started moving again!  I said, "I don't think so, the second hand started moving again".  I told him that I had the same feeling not fifteen minutes ago!  We stood and made a few jokes, but both felt uneasy about what just happened.  I said "what if we really lost an hour?"  What if something happened?.  He said he did not know, and sat back down.  We both finished the day in silence....just the other day.  02/12/10.