February 28, 2017 – Joy Journal – an entry for my husband

          Often I find something of “joy” to put in my journal, but yesterday when my husband came home from the pharmacist, I smiled at him as he told me something that gave him much delight.  It gave me joy just to see him so delighted.

          However . . . .let me tell the little story from the beginning.

          Yesterday morning I had a friend drop in to visit and at the same time my husband was telephoning the pharmacy to re-new his medication.  He consults with a “real person” instead of the “touch number” system that many pharmacies have these days because he prefers it.

          Jack dog, barks when anyone comes to the house.  He is the supreme ALARM DOG.  He barks to advise when the mailman is dropping the mail and he barks at just the sound of the UPS truck or FedEx truck coming down the road.  It doesn’t even have to stop at our house – he barks. 

          Jack thinks he is doing his job.  He barks – and the threat usually goes away.  His barking has been reinforced over the years by his vast success that the mailman, the UPS, and the FedEX trucks all go away after they have been barked at.

          My husband is trying to speak and Jack is barking. He has to pause and say, “Jack, shut up” and then go back to the gal on the phone at the pharmacy.  “No, not you, the dog.”  He explains.  Of course, the gal on the other end of the phone is amused and my husband is put out with Jack’s continuous barking. Jack simply will not stop barking.

          That is when I notice a friend has just driven into our yard. Once I let my friend into the house, he stops barking.  Jack thinks, “I know her voice, she is friendly.”  He goes and lies down quietly.

Later in the day when my husband comes home from his round of errands he says:

          “I picked up my prescriptions.” Since he is announcing it to me, I am expecting a problem, like they didn’t have his prescription and have to fax his doctor, or they ran out of pills and he will have to go back for them or they over charged him  . . . any of the usual problems that arise.

          “They had another bag with my prescription bag.”  He mentions with a cheerful voice.  He's now piqued my interest enough that I looked up from what I am doing to see a delighted smile on his face.

          “They gave me a little plastic bag with a handful of puppy treats.   They said it might make my dog stop barking.  Wasn’t that nice of the gal that took my prescription?”

          Delight was in his eyes and on his face as he turned away saying,   “The gals up there are always nice.”