Several of my neighbors and I had planned to go out for lunch to celebrate a friend’s birthday,  but I needed to take care of my dog first. I saw Mary Carol headed toward her car and I asked if she was joining us. She said yes and offered me a ride. I agreed, but said I had to take Petey out first. I walked him down the street and onto the island.

Something must have caught Petey’s attention, because he suddenly jumped off the island, taking me by surprise. Because I had his leash in one hand, I couldn’t break my fall. I hit the pavement, face first. Blood streamed from my nose, forehead, and upper lip. I cried out but no one heard me. Meanwhile, I was holding onto Petey to keep him from running into the street. I struggled to get up, then gingerly made my way back to the house, holding Petey’s leash in one hand while I used the other to try to minimize the blood flowing down my face. I stopped near Mary Carol’s house where she sat in her car. She gasped, then helped me walk home, clean up, and get some pain medicine. She called my mom when I agreed that I needed to see the doctor.

Mom drove me to the urgent care and my next door neighbor, Mark, who’s an x-ray tech there, checked me in. As he was finishing up my paperwork, Mark called the nurse and told her not to take their next patient back yet. He took me to a private room, away from everyone else.

He came back twice, asking if I needed anything and suggested I try a retractable leash for Petey. A little later, he came to tell me he was headed home.

Mary Carol didn’t have to take me home and help me. Mom didn’t have to interrupt her day and take me to the urgent care. And Mark certainly didn’t have to go out of his way at work to put me in a room where I could wait by myself. But they did. It made an upsetting and scary situation a little less so. Sometimes the little things mean a lot. They did to me that day.