My neighbor, the Frenchie

This is yet another pandemic story. But this one is about my neighbor, the Frenchie.

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not like dogs. In fact, in 2015 it was my new years resolution to simply pet a dog and it took me over a year to accomplish that little goal. This dislike of dogs some say makes me very cold, like how could anyone not like dogs! Well, I simply just didn’t grow up with them and truly the only experiences I had with them were kind of violent. So from a young age I learned to protect myself rather than willingly pet them.

But this spring, after the world turned upside down, I found myself living alone in Brooklyn, New York, in an apartment with one window in a room about the size of a jail cell. Luckily, I was healthy and employed.

I couldn’t shake this feeling of total loneliness, much like the feeling that so many of us were going through. It was a rough time, I didn’t have family to go to. I didn’t have a budget to escape, and I actually thought I was doing okay. This is the same story you will hear from millions of people dealing with this pandemic.

As the months passed I became more and more familiar with the people in my neighborhood. Like the man who parked his cart holding all of his things who lived in the playground across the street from me; and the mailman that without fail everyday wore a Black Lives Matter T-shirt. I watched all of these characters through my window and grew a comfort in this distant familiarity.

But this little Frenchie, he was the one who brought me so much joy. Him and his man pal would go for a walk maybe twice a day. In the first few months I didn’t notice anything, the little dog was just another dog walking in the playground near my house.

But as the seasons changed, and I continued to see him from my window everyday, I started to know his personality almost as if I actually knew this little guy. I started to notice the way he approached other pets, and the way he takes his time with almost everything he does. I even noticed the very precise way that he jumped off the curb to cross the street. He always looked scared at the tip of the curb but would jump with all his might.

I still don’t know this dog and whenever I see him up close when I am downstairs, I am still too afraid to pet him. But this little dog, he brings me so much simple joy, and he will never know.

It makes me wonder, what are the other things that I haven’t been able to notice because I have been so busy trying to maintain whatever we call sanity in this bonkers pandemic.