Cuddie.

I made a friend this morning. Her name was Cuddie. We met by fate, as I almost ran her over with my car. =)

So I’m pulling into the parking lot of the rec, when I see this huge Golden Lab running out in front of my car. I carefully pull into a parking spot, get out of the car, and take a look around for her. To my dismay, I don’t see her, and go about gathering my water bottle and going in for my workout. A second later, I hear this bat out of hell come running towards me…I look to my left, and see this giant dog jump past me, into my car!

Ok…?

So, being the softy that I am, I get back into the car, turn it on, not wanting my guest to be cold. (It was about 15 degrees this morning). I take a look at her tags, and they tell me her name is Cuddie.

“Cuddie, sit still, I need the phone# off of your tags so I can call your Mom.” I plead with her.

Yeah, she knew what I was saying. This dog sat still while I called her “Mom.”

Mom: (very frantically, I might add) “Hello?”

Me: “Hi…I have your dog. We’re sitting in my car right now at the rec center on Finley.”

Mom: ”You do? Oh thank God. What kind of color is your car? Are you parked in front or back?”

Me: “It’s black…and I’m in the front lot. We’re just sitting here chilling, listening to Eric and Kathy.” (It’s a morning talk-show here in Chi-Town.)

Mom: ”Thank you so much…we’ll be right over.”

So, Miss Cuddie and I sat in the car and chatted for a few minutes. To be honest, she wasn’t much of a talker. She seemed to be having more fun jumping from the front seat to the back seat, and back again. She was a pretty cool chick though…in fact, we even had the same color hair.

A few minutes later, Cuddie’s Dad and pajama clad big sister came to pick her up. They were extremely appreciative of my actions…and thanked me numerous times. Cuddie flew out of my car when she saw them arrive, and jumped right into her own. In seconds, they were gone.

A little bit of kindness goes a long way. Miss Cuddie put smile a on my face for the day, as I’m sure I did for that family. It’s definitely the little things in life that make the most difference.

Thanks Cuddie.