A Tail to Warm a Heart on a Cold Night?

I was down in Columbus last night. I had just finished the creme brulee, following an amazing entree of salmon with asparagus and potatoes, and enjoying the company of my fellow staffers at our annual dinner meeting. The cell phone buzzed and it was my wife. She just had a short story for me (mind you, we had chatted for quite some time a couple hours prior).

It seems a neighbor down around the corner, a 97-year old woman we know from church, had answered "yes" when Linda asked if she would like a visit on a night when there was no doubt that she was not venturing anywhere. She added to that affirmation: "and please bring your dog".

So Linda leashed up the lab and they headed over. Once inside, Ollie pretty much immediately walked over beside the octogenarian's chair and sat. She reached over and scratched him on the back. My understanding is that, for the remainder of the visit, perhaps half an hour, Mrs. Limmerman continued to scratch Ollie on the back, and he sat lower and lower, finally just lying on the floor right next to her.

When it was time to go, Ollie got up, and off he went with Linda.

I know it's a silly little scenario with no plot and no action, but the image of the elderly woman, so content to simply scratch a visiting dog while he just sat there (and the dog, definitely content to hang around and be the scratch-ee), stayed with me for the rest of my time in Columbus. In fact, I returned to my table mates and told them about it - and received a chorus of "aawwwww's".

I'm guessing that we will return to Mrs. Limmerman's house, all three of us, one day pretty soon.