i was freaking out. i was in the mud park, lost my phone, puddles deep enough to hide balls in. scurrying around with nervous pointers,

thinking stay cool, it's not fair to the dogs who are keenly sensitive,

but when i gave up and got home, putting the balls in the basket i noticed my phone laying there!

so then i turned to find them and celebrate and lo they were already in bed wondering what calamity had befallen us and i got upset again because i had not had time to wipe their feet,

then i gave them a big fun rubdown and danced around saying i'm sorry! i'm sorry! i'm just an emotional guy! and i know you are too! so let's dance!

then i'm kissing and hugging them like a usual friday and saying hey let's go out again and make it better but let's do a lucky pineapple photo first! and it was lucky because hilde still had to poop and i made her too nervous before.

but the cool thing is they were right with me even though i was freaking and they didn't know why and i cherish them more and for a minute i thought losing something is good when the thrill of finding follows and almost almost worth it.

that's quite a story isn't it?

well, it could have been shorter, true.