The “pay it forward” concept isn’t a new one; indeed some sources say it dates back to the days of ancient Greece.
But it has a much more immediate meaning for me.
I live in Land O’ Lakes in the Lakeshore Ranch community. My children are grown and I’m gone a lot for work and travel. Because of that, I’ve met just a few neighbors since moving here a year ago.
I’m content here with my 9-year-old dog, Jonas, a handsome Airedale terrier. He is a dear dog, and just a month ago, he completed chemotherapy treatments for a cancer common in large dogs.
After a rough few months of surgery and then chemo, Jonas is doing amazingly well now.
So, imagine my panic when a few days after his final chemo treatment, Jonas went missing.
When I left in the morning, I was running late for a breakfast meeting and I raced out of my house without realizing that I’d left the sliding glass door wide open to my backyard. After breakfast, I dropped by my house before heading to work to check on Jonas.
I came in through the garage door and immediately saw the open sliding glass door. As soon as I saw that, I knew that Jonas was gone.
Fear set in as I looked into my backyard, which borders on a lake. The yard doesn’t have a fence, and I’ve seen gators in the lake. To make things worse, I had taken off Jonas’ collar before I left. So, even if anyone found Jonas, they wouldn’t know where to call.
I had no idea where to look first. Jonas had a two-hour head start.
I drove up and down the streets of my neighborhood, calling out for Jonas. A couple colleagues came out to help in the search.
I showed a picture of Jonas to the people I saw and asked them to call me if they found him.
When the search turned up empty after an hour, I was feeling frantic.
Then, Suzanne Beauchaine, a co-worker and fellow dog owner, decided to walk my street again, this time carrying a leash. About halfway down the block a woman saw Suzanne holding the leash and asked if was looking for a dog.
It turns out that another neighbor, Diana Gonzalez, had seen Jonas wandering in her backyard not long after I had left home, and had put him in her lanai. Diana took a picture of Jonas and posted it on her Facebook page, asking friends if anyone knew who owned the dog.
Within minutes, a neighbor told Diana said she knew where the dog lived, and Diana left a note on my door, letting me know she had found him. I didn’t see that note, though, because I’d gone into my house through the garage.
This story’s happy ending relates back to the concept of paying it forward. When I was talking to Diana after I got Jonas back, she told me her husband initially didn’t want her to get involved because Jonas is a large dog and he wasn’t wearing tags.
Understandably, Diana’s husband was concerned for her safety.
But Diana said seeing Jonas reminded her of an occasion when her dog, Rocky, a 13-year-old golden mix, was lost shortly after they moved to Lakeshore Ranch.
“We were out of town and my sister was taking care of Rocky when he wandered off,” Diana recalls. “She was looking for Rocky and we were so worried. Then a neighbor saw her searching and told her that another neighbor had put Rocky in her lanai.”
So, when Diana saw Jonas, she told her husband it was their turn to “pay it forward” for someone else.
To those of you who are pet owners, I’m sure you realize how grateful I am to the Gonzalez family for their kindness. They protected my pet, who I nearly lost to illness, and then nearly lost again because I forgot to close the door.
Now, Jonas is back where he belongs.
And, the power of paying it forward lives on.
Published June 11, 2014
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