In Unexpected Places

LM and I went out to dinner tonight. Our little holiday dinner without the crowds and before it got totally insane in the next week or two. As the waitress approached the table she looked at me and said, "I know you. How do I know you?" I looked at her and had no bells of recognition going off. I smiled and said I wasn't sure. She was intent on figuring out who I was, but was polite enough about it. She took our drink order and came back asking if I had attended a local college, I told her no, I hadn't. She kept saying she knew me somehow and it would bug her until she could figure it out. I told her I didn't live in that town, we lived a couple over, and she just shook her head and said, "I know you somehow." I didn't recognize her name and she didn't seem to recognize mine and I was content with moving on but she was bothered enough that she wanted to figure it out. LM and I had a good conversation as we waited for our dinner, talking about our days and the holidays coming up.

Our waitress came over ahead of the meals and said words I hadn't heard in months, "You're Gabe's mom!" It took me a minute to figure out what she had even said and then all the lights went on. She owned a black lab, named slider, and we used to see each other frequently at the dog park. She said she hadn't seen us there in a long while and I had to explain that we no longer owned Gabe. I had to listen as Jacob told about how we took him to a new family in Indiana and I realized that he never learned about the move Gabe made from that family to his new home in southern Ohio. We were thrilled to finally have resolution to the mystery and she showed us Christmas pictures she had taken with her dog.

As she left our table to get our dinners I wanted to cry. I fought it with all I could but I missed Gabe and the bark park and even Slider so much at that point I wasn't sure I was going to make it through dinner. LM talked about how much he wishes we had a dog, a big dog, a 'Gabe dog'. Just this morning at the post office, I had met a beautiful, old, golden retriever named Tim, who was at the post office with his owner helping out during the holiday rush. And now, to be thinking about Gabe, it was more than I could take today.

Now that I am home, and LM in tucked away in bed, I am snuggled up on the couch with tears streaming down my face as I think about how much I miss my dog. I could really go for those big brown eyes tonight.