Two Miracles In a Day

Aug 16-  "The Wedge",  Newport Beach

There's a scene in the movie City of Angels, where all of the angels in LA gather on the beach in the morning to witness the sunrise. While they are deprived of the human touch, or the feeling of the sand beneath their feet, they are able to "hear" music in the rising sun.

I always think of that scene and really what it is emphasizing- the human joys that we are lucky enough to experience here on Earth. Sunsets are one of them and like Seth and Cassiel, who gather with the rest of the Angels in the movie to watch the sun rise each day, we Californians seem to flock to the beach to watch the sun slowly descend onto the horizon each evening. It's cleansing- even therapeutic, because for those few moments, nothing else seems to matter except the daily miracle we are witnessing.

Yesterday's sunset let us witness another miracle of sorts. Let me explain.

Our boy Dylan is 9-years old and as expected for a 9-year old dog, he has slowed down quite a bit from the little terror of a puppy he once was. I say that with great affection because most days, I'd give anything to have that back. Dylan also suffers from a somewhat common condition called Cushing's Syndrome, which despite the greatest of medical care and daily medication to control symptoms, is slowly taking our boy from us. Let me say first that he is not "suffering" in any pain. But we do have to diligently stay on top of any sore or wound, lest it become an infection.  In addition to that, the emotional consequences of his condition aren't unlike a sort of dementia. There are instances, where we're not sure he even recognizes us. He is most content at home now and is no longer much of a "walker". Still, we try to keep it interesting for him and stimulate him with car rides, time around other dogs and so forth. Last night, we put him in the car and drove him down to a famous body surfing spot in Newport known as "The Wedge".  There is a nice long beach leading up to the shore break and we knew it'd be a good spot for him to see something interesting. It was a little bit of a struggle between the car and the edge of the sand, but eventually, we got there in time to watch skim boarders, body surfers and dolphins all taking advantage of the evening surf.

And of course, there was that therapeutic sunset.

As the sun finally disappeared and we headed back to the car, amazingly Dylan returned with a little pep in his step. Wide eyed, we watched him sort of dance along the sand and then the sidewalk and finally down the street and once back at the car, we found he wasn't exactly all that ready to climb back in for the ride home. The sunset on that beach last night gave us all the best gift we'd had in the longest time. Who says you can't witness two miracles in a day.