Hmmm

It was my birthday today. I didn’t go to a single gym. Instead, we went out to breakfast with a dear friend. (Potato pancakes topped with spinach sautéed with onion, tomato and garlic, topped with two poached eggs and covered with parmesan, in case you’re curious.) The woman at the next table was humming louder than the soundtrack, and not at all in time with it.

Public singing is up there with whistling on my list of peeves. Humming is tantamount to singing, thus I got quite peevish.

I was wearing a favorite shirt that happens to say “dog is good”. When they got up to leave, she saw it. She came over to me and asked if I had dogs. I said yes. She asked how many. I told her, “One now, the other died last week.” (I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you that the Big Dog is no more. He may not have lived with us, but he was part of our pack.) She teared up in sympathy, and asked his name. When I told her, she offered what amounts to a blessing for him. She used the exact same words I would have said had our positions been reversed.

That’s the lesson. It’s a timely one, now that I’ve reached an age where I’m supposed to have acquired some wisdom. What we care about determines who we are. The more we care, the more it matters. She was so gracious that I now feel like I ought to forgive public humming. Maybe, but singing is still out. Don’t even talk to me about whistling.