The Dawn

I was walking the dogs to the store and had slung over my shoulder a little pouch with clean-up bags and cash. The dogs wait nicely for me at the bike rack at Mega Foods. They used to wait at the bus stop bench 10 feet away because it seemed a more secure place to tether them, but I came out once and a young woman surrounded with bags was sitting on the ground around the corner. She surprised us as we rounded the building and nearly tripped over her on our route home.

"I wanted to sit on the bench but that one wouldn't let me," she said, pointing accusingly at Eli's snout. And she was at eye level with him sitting there, still, on the ground. Eli gave an impassive glance. He was not admitting to anything.

"I'm so sorry!" I effused and it was not enough, but I didn't know what else to say. I had, after all, tied the dogs to a bench that is for people to sit on.

Not again.

So this time they were tied to the bike rack. I came out with my cream cheese, strawberries, yogurt, and baguette, when all I had gone in for was a baguette in order to make croutons for my Ceasar Salad that would be lunch. But I remembered the carrot cake in the making at home and thought cream cheese frosting would be best and strawberries were on sale...and yogurt was on sale...

Only coins jingled in my dog-walking pouch now and still I wandered into the dollar store looking to price a certain pet supply. It wasn't there, but instead, I saw the freezer section with ice cream treats and a King Cone available to me for $1.50. I checked my jinglage and roughly saw $1.50.

"I hope it is close to $1.50" I said to the checker with a laugh, "that's all I have."

$1.58, she said.

I counted out not $1.50, not $1.60 but $1.58 to the penny in all. "It was meant for me!" I told her.

She laughed and I went on my way with pups, letting them lick the wrapper after I took the chocolate bit from it.

What I smiled about as we walked home was not the delight of the processed sugary goodness, but the idea that today, on my birthday, God saw fit that my change should, to the penny, buy me a little birthday treat. If I'd had $1.65 or $11.65, it would have seemed like my choice. But it was all I had, and exactly what I had. It seemed much more like a gift. When it dawns on you to appreciate something that common understanding tells you to ignore, life is more pleasant for the realization - for the "dawn."

The pups and I walked joyfully home, wondering what else to be careful to notice about the day so as not to miss the least bit of blessing...