I wish I had my camera ready to take a picture of Ocho that day...
I took a walk in early December, on the Lake Michigan beach in New Buffalo. It was typical December weather for Michigan, so it was cold but not terrible. I had found so far that day a few pieces of beach glass, some cool stones and a good amount of driftwood. I think I was dragging my sled with enough driftwood to make me tired.
Part of the way into my walk, a friendly pitt bull mix came buzzing by. His dad told me the dog's name was Ocho, so I said "Hi". I think she (he?) was a little shy to approach me directly, but she was sweet. A little while later, they came back by, and she came a bit closer, I told her "hi" again, and I think I got to pet her a little. (Dog relationships are easier for me than people relationships, I have to work harder at those.)
This time, Ocho's dad asked if I was collecting beach glass too (my sled made the driftwood collection obvious)? And I said yes. He asked if I wanted "this one", and handed me the pictured piece of cobalt blue glass. I was not shy, "YES!" and "WOW!" might have been some of my responses. I also told him that was probably the biggest piece of cobalt I had seen picked up on the beach in years, my brother being the only one to find one to rival it in size.
Then he said, "Well, if you want that one, do you want these too?" And he pulled from his pocket a bunch of similarly sized white and green pieces, big ones. It took both hands to hold his stash! I figure Ocho had his attention part of the time, so he only noticed the big ones. I realized afterwards that I knew the dog's name, and I probably should have got his dad's name, but what a kind thing for a person to do? I guess while Ocho was sweet, she reminded me that people can be really sweet too, and maybe I should try a little harder with people.