thought maybe I should give it all up.
Maybe I was too far gone.
Then Peety jumped into my lap. He
started licking my face, which made
me laugh. I petted him, and he pressed
himself into my belly and lay down on
top of my thick thighs as if he were a
tiny puppy snuggling up in a blanket.
And then he looked up at me as if I
were the greatest guy in the world.
“Oh, Peety,” I said. “Are you sure
you’re not disappointed you wound
up with me?”
He kept looking at me with those
beautiful dark eyes. And then he
smiled. I’d heard people talk about
dogs smiling before, and I thought
they were nuts. But he did. He opened
his teeth slightly and pulled up the
corners of his mouth.
Suddenly I wasn’t feeling sorry for
myself. I was thinking about Peety’s
happiness. “I’m sorry, son,” I said to
him. “I promise I won’t let you down.”O
ver the next weeks, Peety kept
pulling harder and harder on
the leash, raring to go. There
were times when I couldn’t keep up,
even though I’d dropped five pounds a
week pretty consistently since I started
the plant-based eating and walking.
The misery of headaches, abdominal
pain, and overall discomfort I’d lived
with for years just disappeared. I felt
good. Not just better, but really good.
I started taking Peety to different
parks. I found one, Penitencia Creek
County Park, just over a mile fromwas there?perience what freedomleash. Peety took off like a sprinter
at the Olympics: head down, body
forward, legs moving so fast they al-
most overtook him. He flew down
the path and didn’t slow one bit
as he approached the edge of the
pond. Instead, he leaped. My jaw
dropped open as he sailed out over
the pond. He must’ve traveled seven
feet through the air before he landed
in a great big belly flop. Peety swam
so hard he practically lifted his whole
front end right out of the water, beam-
ing with pride and excitement.
“Woo-hoo!” I yelled.
When he heard me, he swam to
shore, ran out of the water, beelined116 june 2019
Reader’s Digest