David McElroy

The box looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember what it had been used for. I was cleaning out a 9’x12′ section of an unused room at home Saturday that I’m converting into a video studio. So I was opening a lot of things that haven’t been opened lately.

It was the original artwork for something I had made and printed for an ex-girlfriend. I have trouble throwing things way that I’ve made, even after the sentiment expressed in the piece no longer applies, but it’s been long enough now that it was time to throw it away without regrets.

This left me thinking about a woman who I almost married. There were actually two women during that period who I almost married. I backed out of both and the end of each relationship was messy. As I looked at this piece that I had lovingly made for one of them back then, I could only find myself thinking how lucky I had been that I didn’t marry her. I had dodged a bullet. (She probably did, too.)

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When I posted this photo of Lucy on social media Wednesday, I just wanted to share my best furry friend. But a stranger who saw the picture saw more than I intended.

“Lucy doesn’t ask for much,” I wrote as the caption. “Most of the time, she’s happy and content if she can just lie quietly in the floor and watch me work.”

This stranger named Alan made a comment on the photo.

“My Lucy would often join us where we were working, too,” he wrote. “Cherish those moments, and don’t forget to give them a pat, and talk to them.”

His use of the past tense was my hint that his Lucy was a beloved dog from his past, but I still didn’t realize what was going on. After I assured him that I talk to Lucy more than I talk to humans, he responded again.

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