Riley the Bewildered Retriever

So, my goal yesterday was to watch for neat things that other people were doing for each other, I see them so often in my everyday work and activities. But Riley stopped me in my tracks--literally. I was mortified as I witnessed him being lightly struck by one car and narrowly missed by another traveling along Embarcadero Road. Drivers were honking, a jogger was yelling, a man in a business suit was talking on his phone and he just shook his head. Why did nobody stop? I was supposed to be the observer of good works; here was the opportunity and nobody was taking it.

Riley limped off in a daze to the nearby school parking lot, surely about to go right back into the street and be run over again, for the last time. I understood why nobody took the time to deal with him after I pulled over and tried to find an i.d. tag--he was the world's strongest dog! There was no tag, but his owner had written a phone number on his collar. Luckily for me, a mom dressed in yoga clothes pulled up in her Mercedes and offered to take Riley home. She didn't know exactly where he lived, but said he looked familiar. I wondered if she hadn't shown up, could I have dealt with Riley, the world's strongest dog, without letting this little inconvenience frustrate me because of having to change my schedule?

The chance to help doesn't always come at the most convenient time, for sure, but we never regret seizing those little opportunities along our path. I'll be forever grateful to those who rescued our family dog, Max, three years ago when he was also off on an undetermined adventure---along highway 101 at 2:00 a.m.! Luckily, someone took a minute to load him into the car, exit the freeway, and bring him safely home. Inconvenient, yes, but worth it. This week Riley has reminded me to slow down and stop along the way, something that's not easy to do in this hurried world of ours.