Curly remembers

My dog, Curly, is an avid explorer. When we’re in the woods and he’s off leash, he flies through wooded areas with glee, searching for something real or imaginary. He embraces his freedom. Rarely is he interested in greeting humans, unless he knows them.

On this particular day, I watched him go towards an older woman and her husband. They were about 50 feet from me, when the woman exclaimed, “Your dog licked my hand.”

How strange, I thought. I’ve never seen Curly do that before!

The woman and I struck up a conversation. She told me her daughter had died three months before in the hospice home where Curly and I volunteer.  

I remembered her daughter. I also recalled meeting the woman while Curly and I visited a patient in a nearby room. We had talked for only a few minutes. It was the only instance that Curly or I had met this woman. 

Yet Curly remembered her and embraced her in the way he does best: with a lick!