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I dozed off for a few minutes, waking up to his first victim yelling.
“No, I did NOT check outThe History of Butts by Seymour Legg”,one woman pleaded from the podium in court. Dang, there was a jury and everything.
“Dolly, remind me to check my library checkout history.”
It was a poor plot, but I was tired and only realized I fell asleep when my phone woke me up two hours later.
Reminder: groomer appointment tomorrow.
How could I forget? It was nearly 9 pm.
“Should we call it a night, Dolly?”
I opened the sliding glass door to her grass pad, and she went out quickly, did her thing, and ran back in. I was lucky that I had a corner unit with a large tree, so I had two big windows in my living room and since we were upstairs, it had vaulted ceilings. But occasionally, the tree branch would scratch on my window and scare me silly.
My first apartment in my hometown had a similar tree. That’s why I picked this unit. It felt like home—just hundreds of miles away. I remembered the first days I lived alone. There was a sense of intrigue, wonder, andsuspense.My mother reminded me every moment that suspense was not necessarily a good thing. But that time in my life felt exciting—full of possibility, as if, at any moment, the perfect man would fall out of the sky and land on my doorstep and meeting him would never require my leaving the house or attending uncomfortable social situations.
I thought of a classmate I’d sat next to during school for years and never spoke to until we were paired together on an assignment our senior year.
We might have been strangers, but our first conversation rapidly went to thesubject of dating, where she disclosed she’d been on several dates from a popular online matchmaking service. Then she had excitedly told me she was going out with a man that very night, and that she hoped he was her future husband. But the more we discussed it, I learned that she hadn’t met him yet and that this was the twentieth first date she’d gone on in the last year.
I never made the connection between myself and that woman until just now. In my twenties, I just raised my eyebrows at her but never thought about hermotive.Her longing for marriage made sense to me. Her desire for union gripped my heart, too. IassumedI’d be married one day. But what if I didn’t? Would I be unhappy? Or would I be serial dating strangers online?
I picked up Dolly and hugged her tight, realizing I was wrong for raising an eyebrow at that classmate.I was wrong to judge her at all.
I tucked Dolly into bed, and I found once again, the contentment washing over me. I was happy in my life. Dolly started yawning.
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for this day.
Please forgive me for judging that woman all those years ago.
I never understood her longing for love until now.
I trust in your timing, Lord. And if it’s your will that I do not find a husband, I am okay with that, too, because you have my days planned out in your book. I want the path you’ve chosen for me.
In your name,
Amen
I clicked off the light. “Goodnight.”
I was still smiling as I lay in the darkened room, thinking about Dolly’s little yawns.
The next morning, we slept in until 9. I didn’t realize how tired I was. I sat up, instantly worried that Dolly would be standing at the door again, but was relievedto see she, too, was still in bed.
I slid out of the sheets and took her out to her grass pad.
“Groomers today, Dolly. Are you ready?”
She tilted her head. It was a beautiful, clear day out.
“Should we get extra messy before the groomer? Should we go to the Bark Park?” She wagged her tail. “Park?” She started jumping around.My girl loves the park.
We had a lazy breakfast, and I took my time showering and getting dressed in some ‘running around’ clothes, as my mother used to call them: loose fitting but still showing some resemblance of a figure.
I also called her to tell her about my date, or lack thereof.
