The Kindness of a Stranger

As I think I've mentioned before in previous posts, one of the places where I park at UT is right next to a parking garage and a nice grassy area where I play ball with Morey several times a day. There are lots of students, faculty and staff who walk by as we're playing and many of them smile or comment on Morey's enthusiasm as he plays. A few months a woman walked by and made a detour to come talk to me. She told me that seeing Morey play always gets her day off to a good start and she always looks for us she's on her way to work. It's amazing that just looking at a dog can have such a positive impact on someone's day!

This week we were having our usual play session before heading into work and a woman came toward me with her hands full of tennis balls with small straps through each one (see picture below). She explained that her daughter had bought the balls on clearance at Goodwill and she wondered if I would like them for my dog. She had been planning to give them to her co-worker who had dogs but she didn't think her dogs really played with balls. "And I know your dog likes them because I see him playing here every day."

Morey came over and started sniffing the balls, confirming that he was indeed interested in them. There were seven balls and I tried only accepting a few of them but the woman was insistent on giving them all to Morey. After a few minutes of back and forth I accepted all the balls and immediately threw one for Morey who happily ran after it. The woman was happy her gift was already being enjoyed and I assured her that Morey would put the rest of them to good use as well.

Only Morey could be popular enough to get showered with gifts from a stranger!