Last week was a particularly craptastic week but was relieved by one moment of light.  A tiny very brown puppy with floppy ears and enormous eyes arrived in a box sitting on a red tea towel and looking slightly worried.

Buster Brown, as he was later christened, had been temporarily part of one of the dispatcher’s households but the extant dog was violently against the puppy and it was deemed safer for the puppy and the children playing with said puppy if it did not stay.  So, an empty nest couple who work evenings agreed to adopt Buster.  Consequently, he arrived in his box looking a bit nervous and cowed.

And thus I was introduced to him.  After spending a day in near tears, suddenly all the anxiety and exhaustion that had plagued my day fled in the face of a brown face with large eyes.

Buster is never going to be big.  He’s a dachshund/chihuahua mix.  He is a gorgeous chocolate brown color that I have rarely seen so perfectly and beautifully grown in a dog’s coat.  He has lovely soft ears and is calmer than I would have ever assumed any offspring from those two breeds could be.  And right now he is just about the size of a man’s hand.

Happily, Buster was surreptitiously brought back again the following evening, after the big bosses had left.  He’d had time to be recognize the safety and love that was his new home and had lost the sad worried look.  One of the girls in the office took him off his leash and ran him up and down the office space and he had all the spunk and happiness that is puppies.

I hope that Buster visits us regularly.  He is a boon to my mental health.  A temporary relief to anxiety and sadness.  Joy is his vocation.

I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of the Joy of Buster.  Perhaps I will remember to take one this week if he visits, instead of just enjoying him.