That's right! That is what me and Bret were the other weekend.
We were running [almost] late for Bret's work Christmas party at the Bellagio (which was totally amazing... pictures and post for that to come soon!) I was all hair & make up decked-out, but not in my dress yet because we figured we would change in our room in the hotel. Good thing too! Anyway - to the story... as we were leaving the neighborhood we were following behind this car that was driving extremely slow. Bret, who was driving, was slightly irritated as we were trying to get going. I told him to Chill-Bill and maybe the person in the car was just lost or something, so to give them a break and stop riding their bums! (Guys and their car-rage! haha. Luckily Bret's isn't too bad, but still!) Anyway, the car ended up pulling to the right and waving us around her. I was looking down as we started driving up the road more, when Bret says, "Oh, maybe that is what she is looking for?" I looked up and saw nothing, but then he pointed out a dog... and in a nut shell I told him to pull over so I could grab it and we could hopefully figure out who the owner was. There was a slight moment of a sigh from him, but as I reminded him that if our little lady pup, Myah, was roaming around I would hope that someone would do the same for me. The cute dog was such a sweety, he jumped right in the car (right on my dress with his dusty paws! haha) As I tried to move the dress and Bret's tux the dog must have figured I was taking much too long to take him for a "ride", and he jumped right back out and took off running down towards the busier street. I started running after him, telling him I'd give him a "treat"... told him I'd take him for a "ride" in the car... go for a "walk"... asked him if he wanted to go see his "mommy" (my dogs know what that means, so I figured he'd get as joyful as them at the word... nope!) Welp, none of those worked and he just kept running and running. Finally I just waved Bret towards me and told him to follow the dog to see if we could get him in the car. I wasn't giving up! There are coyotes where we live, and a few people in our ward have mentioned how their dogs got out, and never got back. Basically, the coyotes will attack your dog given the opportunity, or they could be hit by a car since at night it is very dark due to lack of street lamps. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving him. On top of that, it didn't help that all the handful of cars who passed us didn't look too concerned to help - so if we didn't catch him, who would? Luckily my last plan worked. We pulled up to the dog as if it were the first time and he hopped in the car. YAY! Win for us! He had a collar so we knew he belonged to someone, however the silly owner neglected to put any tags on the collar. No name, No address, No phone #, No rabies tag, Nada! Bret's genius guess that maybe the woman in the car earlier was looking for him was all we had to go off of. We discussed it and figured we would drive around our neighborhood and the other surrounding one's to see if we could find her driving around still, and if not then we would just put him in our backyard for the night with some food, and then post some pictures up the next day to hopefully find his home. I said a quick prayer that we would find the cute dogs owner and then we took off down the road again on our little scavenger hunt for this car. It must have been our lucky day, because as soon as we pulled into our neighborhood I saw the woman's car so I jumped out and waved her down. She looked at me like I was crazy (she's probably right. haha) and then I asked her if she was looking for a dog. All the sudden her eyes got watery and she said "YES!" she jumped out her car to ours and embraced her little lost four-legged friend. I found out his name is Yogi. And they are happy to be with each other again.
She was the most thankful person and couldn't believe I'd go chasing after her dog all fancied up. I told her my dog meant the world to me, and that I would hope someone would do the same for me given a reverse situation...
...and this, this is what got me thinking. I'm not posting this blog to say we are coolio peeps for taking the time to catch the dog and find his owner, or to pat us on the back. I know many people would have done just the same! ... This experience just got me thinking a few things.... Well, one thing is, put ID tags on your dog with their name, your Address/Phone #. That way if they get lost, it's easier for them to get "found" and to the right person. Now, the two other main things that came to mind were... (1) The saying "WWJD" (What Would Jesus Do) often comes to mind for me. I know some people might think it's a silly saying, but seriously! It helps me to put things into perspective. We were running late for Bret's work party, I had fancy hair and fancy make up, we could have just driven away like the other many cars did, or we could try to catch him... What Would Jesus Do? When the dog jumped out and took off running again, we could have said "Well, we tried. We're late. Let's go." or we could not give up and try again.... What Would Jesus Do? Because it was a dog, and I love those creatures, it wasn't a hard decision for me. In fact it was instinct. But it got me thinking about those other things that aren't so "instinct-like" for me... I need to work on those so I CAN be doing more of the things Jesus Would Do. (2) One of my favorite Hymns has always been "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today"... the song came to my mind as we were going through this adventure, and it reminded me that there are many days I let pass by where I haven't done much "good" in the world that day, and I want to strive to be better at that. So, in a nut shell my thoughts lateley have been, if we ALL were to live by the above motto's and try to really apply: What Would Jesus Do?, and Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?... just think about how much better, and happier, this world would be. I think it is easy for all of us to let opportunities to serve others and help others pass by us because we are easily caught up in the every day things of life. But life isn't about that. Life should be about bringing happiness to the people around you, which in turn brings happiness to yourself.
To serve others, to honestly try and be like Jesus, to do good in the world each day... That is what life is about.
There's one key to more happiness.
How can you be your own Rescue Ranger to another? ... Sure makes you think, eh!?
:)
