The other day, I thought to myself, "I seriously need a doggie-fix." I had seen plenty from afar on my walks, but none up close and personal.

Last night at the bookstore, a boy was walking through the aisles with a guide dog in training. I knew there was a chance he'd say no, but I asked if it was okay to pet his dog anyway. And he said yes! The dog sat and I patted its head. The dog was a big, beautiful yellow Lab, a male dog named Vidal. Vidal licked my leg while I pet him and scratched his ears, then he laid down by my feet and licked my bare toes (I was wearing sandals). It kind of tickled, and made me giggle. After a few minutes I wandered back over to Joe, beaming from ear to ear. "Are you happy now?" he asked.

"Oh, yes," I said. In fact, I was happy for a long time afterwards, too!

Today in the video game store, there was another young boy with a puppy. This kid was extremely talkative and friendly, unlike the boy from last night. He went on and on about his puppy, a female Portuguese Water Hound named Bella. He was very impressed that I had not only heard of the breed, I also knew that "bella" means beautiful in Italian. I had a blast talking to him. He totally reminded me of my former students, since he was around the same age as them. He liked describing how smart his puppy is and telling me stories about how much she understands him and his family members already. Bella even had that horrendous-yet-wonderful signature puppy breath! So cute! She is only eight weeks old, but already pretty big. Her coat was really interesting, sort of like a poodle's might feel, and she had little whiskery hairs around her mouth. She liked chewing on my fingers, and I liked reaching in her mouth to touch her tongue and puppy teeth. It was a win-win situation.

As I drove home, I smiled quite a bit, feeling really grateful for the way the world works. I desperately needed a doggie fix, and all of a sudden, dogs are coming out of the woodwork. I love it when stuff like that happens.