There are moments in our lives that are mutually exclusively about ourselves. Then, some moments are shared with others. Whether you realize it or not, you share moments with friends, family, neighbors, and even strangers. The most interesting moments are shared with people you will never see, or hardly ever see. Anyone who knows me understands my deep love for my fur babies. Recently, the oldest of the fur babies crossed over to the Rainbow Bridge. It was a heavy day, I dreaded the next morning and having to walk only one fur baby. I was worried about bursting into tears at every glance from a blind or curtain. I worried that others would wonder where Princess was, as if she was home being fussy or being a Diva – which she did often. Every morning I would see an older Hispanic man walking his collie and schnauzer. One morning, when I went to waive – thinking it would be a good moment to share my loss with a fellow canine own, he turned around and sped away. I didn’t think much of it until it kept happening. “Did I say something to offend him?” I wondered.

A year and a half later, my wife and I decided it was time to add another addition. Enter into the family, Blue – our 8-week-old French Bull Dog. He is wonderful and has brought much-needed fresh energy to our home. The other day, my wife made mentioned seeing the Hispanic man and of course, he couldn’t resist Blue. My wife started, “Yeah, I saw that man and he was upset about us losing Princess.” She said. “What? What do you mean? That was over a year ago.” I replied. “Yeah, that’s what I told him, he didn’t know and he stopped speaking to you and felt terrible because it reminded him of how old his fur babies are.” She said. “Ohhhhhh,” I replied. That makes sense now. “What?” She asked. “Well, he would run off when he saw me walking Papi and not Princess,” I said. “Oh, yeah … he was sad about the future loss of his fur babies.” She concluded. It just goes to show, that your moments are not simply about you – sometimes, most times – they are about others’ moments as well. Be kinder, hug longer and hold on to the beautiful moments of life, it happens so fast.