We ALL Need Prayers

The other evening I was walking Ralphie.  It was a beautiful, slightly cool evening.  I was in a great mood, chatting on the phone with my daughter as Ralphie and I enjoy our walk.  As usual Ralphie was sniffing all the scents in the air and ground.  A street away from my house, Ralphie stopped near the curb by the street in my neighbor's yard.  He did his business and afterwards Ralphie kicked back the dirt a couple times as a natural instinct of a dog does.  As a responsible pet owner I took a poop bag from my pocket to pick up what Ralphie left behind.  Does this sound all normal?  I think so.

Well the owners of this home were outside in their yard.  Mom was raking and Dad was sitting with their daughter who was a little over a year old.  Mom yells over to me that my Ralphie was messing their grass (FYI...sadly the major part of their lawn is browned out and mostly dirt than grass).  I said to her, "Oh, I picked up his mess (holding up the poop bag) and Ralphie just kicked up a little dirt by the curb."
Oh my, that's when the fireworks started ... Dad stands up with his chest puffed out, pointing his finger at me with their little daughter by his side, yelling every nasty, foul, cuss word at me.  He went berserk!  I was appalled by such nastiness.  How can anyone get that angry over something so small? I kept walking, but shouted back he shouldn't be acting like that in front of his little daughter.  My daughter heard the whole ordeal over the phone as I was talking with her.  She couldn't believe her ears.  I couldn't believe such a small harmless act of Ralphie can make a young couple so distraught.

After returning home from our walk I couldn't stop thinking of what happened.  How can anyone be so upset over something so small?  This incident actually kept me up that night losing hours of sleep. Truly I was worried for their daughter being exposed to such madness.  If this is what happens outside their home with a stranger, my goodness what is happening behind closed doors?

I had to write a letter to this young couple to tell them how I feel.  That would be the only way I can let this whole situation go.  I wrote my letter that night using a little humor but getting my point across.  In the morning Ralphie and I took our walk and I tied the letter with a big pink bow to their mailbox.  After I left the letter, not knowing Mom was outside, here comes Mom and baby girl from the side of their house and she said, "oh, it's not you again."  I said, "oh, I just left you a letter on your mailbox."  Calmly she came up to me with her daughter on her side and we talked. Talked a lot.  I gave her some words of wisdom.  She seemed very sad.  In my head I knew there was more going on in that home behind those closed doors.  After talking for about 15 minutes I felt the conversation was going nowhere.  I wrapped up our conversation by saying,  "Have a nice Sunday and I'll keep you and your family in my prayers." She said, "we don't need prayers."  I said, "we ALL need prayers" and walked away.

My letter to my neighbor.