The day that Novel almost made me cry

Today Novel did something so shocking, so sweet and thoughtful, so true to his nature, and yet so downright astonishing, it nearly brought me to tears. But not quite. Today Novel proved to me that he is here for some great purpose, whether that is to be a service dog, or something else. Maybe I'm being overly sentimental, but today Novel reminded me of someone great. Someone that I loved oh so dearly.

For those of you who don't know, I once had a Golden Retriever. His registered name was Jedidiah's Golden Treasure, but we all knew him as Jed. He was my constant companion, fearless protector, compassionate comforter and best friend. People talk about having a heart dog, and he was without question mine. Tragically, he passed away from unexplained anaphylactic shock last April just after I got Novel. My heart was shattered almost beyond repair, but Novel wiggled his busy little puppy face inside and kept it from collapsing completely while I healed, and for that I will always be grateful.

Jed was so special in so many ways. Aside from being drop dead gorgeous, he had many little quirks that made him totally unique. Without question, my favorite one of these was his adorable, self-taught habit of retrieving eggs from the old, abandoned doghouse that our chickens love to lay in. It was always a chore to get down on hands and knees and crawl to the farthest corner to collect the eggs. The first time Jed did it, placing each egg carefully at my feet, I was floored. He continued to do it on his own, nearly every day, without ever breaking a single egg.

Today, Novel floored me. Three brown eggs. Two melted-chocolate eyes. One soft mouth dropping each egg carefully into my hand. He had found them on his own, and he went back to get each one with no more than a word of praise from me. The flood of memories that my sweet buddy brought back was priceless. I love you Novel!