On tuesday, while I had Kaylee and the girl I watch at the park, we had a little encounter with a dog. It started out as such a great day.
Kaylee has started to find it facinating to play in the sand, so for the past few days, that is all we have done. While playing in the sand, I take her shoes off. Well, tuesday was no different. I had both the girls shoes off and laying next to the stroller. We have met another mom over at the park that the girls love t play with her 14 month old daughter too. We were all playing in the sand when another lady walking her dog came past us. The dog immediately went after our shoes. It first sniffed mine and then picked up one of Kaylee's but immediately dropped it. Then it picked up Grace's shoe and would not drop it for anything. We tried for over 5 mintues to get the dog to drop it. We were throwing sticks, trying to pry it out of her mouth, or anything else we could think of. I finally told the owner that she could just keep the shoe:)
In one last attempt, the owner took the dog over to the bathroom to let her get a drink out of the toilet. It worked!! We had the shoe (if that is what you could call it anymore) back. At this point, I thought everything was good. Instead, the owner insisted that she give us money for the shoe. I was not worried about it but she insisted. I tried to call Grace's mom to find out how much the shoes were but could nto get ahold of her at the time. The other mom that was there said $15 dollars. Well, then we had to figure out how she was going to get it to us. Again, I was just standing there, not worried about the money at all. They finally insisted I text my address to her so she can drop off the money. I did. Here is where it gets so frustrating.
When she dropped off the money in an envelope, she left a note. It read " sorry Joey (her dog) and I made a mistake. Sorry it was such a big deal." WHAT!!! I was the one wanting to drop it. I felt so bad. I decided to text her to let her know that I was not upset at all. I text her "It was really no big deal at all. I know dogs can do that sometimes. I was not worried about it. I hope to see you and Joey at the park again sometime." Thought it was nice and to make sure she knew there were no hard feelings and that I was REALLY not worried about it at all. She text back "after the fact." Meaning, that I was not worried about it now that she had given me some money for the shoes. This is when I knew to just drop it. I was trying to be nice, but you can only go so far. It was her dog that ate the shoe, she should be responsible for that dog and the things that it eats. The dog was literally half her size and it was walking her instead of her walking it:) I do hope to see her again at the park. I don't want to mention this incident at all, but hopefully show her some kindness (and God's love) that it seems she needs.
2 comments:
Awww Julie, that stinks. These are the kinds of situations that tend to leave me in a state of crazy! You know, those that aren't your issue to begin with but somehow get turned all about and leave you wondering how you are the one feeling like you need to apologize or defend yourself as if you were the one in the wrong.
What grace is evident in your willingness to drop it...and in your desire to show mercy out of the overflow of the mercy you have been shown!
Thanks for the real-life example of this today! I'll pray for another (hopefully more positive) encounter in the park with them!
Dude, her dog ruined a little girl's shoe! She has no right to be all passive aggressive about it. She absolutly should have paid for it and apologized. You did nothing wrong. In fact, you did everything right. Sorry you had to go through all that.
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