Page 50 of There I Find Hope

Dear Business Boy,

Maybe you should try sitting at your desk with your feet propped up on it. Perhaps that would be more comfortable. Definitely more comfortable than sitting in the middle seat on a transatlantic flight with a baby crying beside you or behind you or in front of you, or wherever. I can’t hear a baby crying without wanting to go over and try to help. But sometimes, they just need to cry. Especially on airplanes. Earbuds make that a lot easier now, I think.

Anyway, I’m just trying to help. You know, stretch your horizons a little. I’m saying that sarcastically, since you’ve traveled the world, and I haven’t gone anywhere. I’ve always lived here. I haven’t even seen the ocean, let alone flown over top of it. I think I just prefer to be beside Lake Michigan. I’ve never felt like I was missing anything by not seeing the ocean.

Is it a lot different than the lake?

Hope is growing. I can almost see her getting bigger every day. Her teeth are coming in, and we started her on some milk replacer pellets. I can give her her bucket of milk and then put a little milk in with the milk replacer pellets. She’s got teeth and can chew a little, but the milk makes them softer so she can just lap it up if she wants to.

She eats a lot.

It makes me happy to watch her. It’s kind of funny how an animal can’t talk, can’t really relate to you at all, and yet you can feel such an affinity for them that they feel like a friend.

She’s just a baby, and yet I consider her a friend.

Maybe that’s why God made animals, to help us through the hard times in our lives. When people just don’t have the patience to listen over and over again to the things that I need to run through my mind before I can finally accept them.

You are one of two exceptions to that. But I don’t know, maybe you just skim through my letters and don’t actually read what I write. But I appreciate you being a person I can write to, because writing is kind of therapeutic. And whether you read it or not, it’s helped me to get it out on paper.

Where are you going on your trip? When? We’re hitting the busy season of summer, and the bed-and-breakfast is full almost every single day. I haven’t gotten the courage up to ask my mom yet, but I suppose I should. My friend hasn’t said anything more about it, but I know he was serious. Whenever he’s in town, he comes with me to feed Hope. I think he likes her as much as I do. And I enjoy spending time with him. Probably more than I should.

Thanks for letting me write to you.

Your friend,

Lover of the lake

Chapter 21

Dear Lover of the lake,

I agree with you about animals. I think dogs make the best friends, maybe because they seem to love us no matter what we do. And most dogs are in a perpetual good mood. Although I had a dog growing up who was a real grump. She was a small mixed breed, and every once in a while, she would get the urge to play, but most of the time, she wanted to sit around and be left alone. Still, she was a great companion, and I enjoyed spending time with her throughout my childhood. There aren’t too many memories outside of school where she wasn’t with me.

I’m sure horses are different in a lot of different ways, but I kind of understand. If I had a bad day at school, or if I got a bad grade on a test, my parents might be upset with me, but my dog just licked my hand and loved me anyway.

I guess maybe a dog’s love might be the closest to the kind of love that God has for us. I know there’s no comparison, but whatever we do, God loves us anyway, just like a dog. Isn’t that true?

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