Day 624

After a wonderful visit at Walker, we are having "Golden Time" in the sunroom before taking off for Mercy with Ranger. As all four crowd around my feet, they nudge, lick, sniff and snuggle. It's a lot of Golden love and I treasure every second!

At Walker this morning, we met up in the Game Room where our teacher friend is always waiting with Milk Bones in hand. Lilly bolts towards him and vacillates between crunching and greeting. She truly adores our senior friend, but the treats are always welcome!

Typically, we have another dear friend join us (another student from his past), but today she was on a road trip. Our resident Buddy had forgotten that she would not join us today, so set out a chair for her. After explaining that she was out of town, I took my usual seat and ignored that third chair...for about five minutes.

Suddenly, a new resident literally swooped in and claimed the empty chair! This lady is a newer resident and a delight for anyone within hearing distance. (She was the one who gave the EMTs ginger cookies when they mistakenly knocked on her door.) Five children, worked in the senior care field, loves people and bakes cookies are just some of the facts we now know about our new friend. She hunkered down and stayed for the entire visit!

From last week, I know this gal is mourning the loss of her husband, home and normality. Taking her under our wing seemed natural, but it seems she might just be the one to spread the joy in our blossoming friendship.

What I found most interesting was that last week, she came by to introduce herself and have a few minutes with Lilly. She didn't pull up a chair or overstay her welcome (never an issue while Therapy Dogging), but headed back to her apartment. Today, with the extra chair in place, she sat right down and was so very happy to visit. She was accepted and it seemed to warm her heart .

Perhaps, from now on, I will place an extra chair in our conversation circle in case anyone needs to be embraced by others. That extra chair might just fit in wherever we visit...even if it is simply imaginary in spirit. Sometimes, all it takes is an empty chair for someone to join the group and feel accepted, wanted and needed.