The Boss

I have a weekend. Yes! I do! It is a rare occurrence to have two days off in a row, and it's even rarer to have a weekend day off. But Saturday and Sunday both? Wowzers! It is the perfect storm of wonderfulness. Friday I was all, "Tee Gee Eye Eff!" Yesterday in the late afternoon, my sweet roommate/friend and I took her Australian Shepherd to the dog beach. It was a glorious day. We met a lot of great dogs. A chocolate Lab who reminded me of my sweet Molly. Another red merle Aussie just like Farm Boy, except he is way more handsome. (Just between you and me.)

"Boss" was a baby English Bulldog, three months old. It was cute, because the dad and the mom and both kids were saying, "C'mon, Boss" over and over and Boss was not obeying them at all. Well. Of course not. Because he's the boss. I found it very ironic that they expected him to do what they said, but he was aptly named because for a lot of us our animals sort of run the show anyway. If you have ever walked behind a dog with a bag and scooped the poop, or cleaned out a litter box, or...okay, I won't continue on with the illustrations because I'm sure you know what I mean...you know that they really are the bosses.

So there we were, sitting on the sand, and Boss said hello to our Aussie and to my friend, but out of the three of us I was definitely his favorite. Anyone could see that. His whole family was calling him, then they stood around watching him come up and say hello to me. I pet him, and then I just had to do it. I kissed his little wrinkly face. I am not the kind of girl to just randomly kiss dogs at dog beach, just so you know. But there he was, and there I was, we were nose to nose, and he was just so kissable, so I did it. Then one of his humans, a sweet little girl, scooped him up and carried him as the family walked toward the water. Smart girl, to know that the only way she was going to get Boss to go with them was to just pick him up and carry him. Or maybe Boss was the smart one, because everyone else had to walk and he was being lovingly toted toward the ocean.

It was a nice afternoon. The salty air. The sound of the waves. The warm sand under my toes. And an unexpected meeting with the Boss.

Susan