Sunday, October 11th, 2026. 4:04 AM.
This is the 683rd post of Mark’s Imaginings — that began in mid-August 2018 — the day after my mother’s departure at 88 years old.
I Got Bit by a Dog at 74
First time that’s happened since I was a boy.
I was walking home from the supermarket in Bellingham, Massachusetts.
Two medium-small white dogs with a little black were across the street as I turned onto Miller Street at Millerville Men’s Club. They disappeared behind a fence. I only kept walking with my groceries in a large plastic bag. All of a sudden, they were both near and behind me — and barking vociferously as if they were mad at me. I just kept walking — paying them no attention. Well, I guess those two didn’t take kindly to being ignored. One of them nipped the calf of my left leg. Well, I didn’t take kindly to that, either. I turned around and said vociferously back to them: “Get away! Get away!” They kept barking at me. They got closer to me, too. So, I lifted my large white bag and swung it toward them – not madly – and not to hit them. The bag didn’t even get close to them. They kept barking at me. So, I took a few steps toward them – saying again, “Go away. Go away.” They stepped backwards; but then they approached me again. A man across the street called them. I told him, “One of them bit me.” He said they weren’t his dogs. I replied, “Okay. Thank you.” Then they went away. So, I continued my walk home to Woonsocket – about a 23-minute walk.
This happened yesterday, October 7th, 2026 – two days before Eileen’s and Sandra’s and Jeannie B. Livingstone’s birthdays. I saw her name on a gravestone in Oak Hill Cemetery in Woonsocket, Rhode Island — Job Pickford and Family Pillar – off Rathbun Street. And on the opposite side of Jeannie B.’s name and birthdate is my birthdate – November 14th. He might be her brother – James Pickford.
💎NEIL DIAMOND ~ JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL MEDLEY 1977 [Live Audio]
💎NEIL DIAMOND ~ JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL MEDLEY 1977 [Live Audio]
Eileen’s Daughter was born in 1977
HARDY – Dog Years (Lyric Video)
HARDY – Dog Years (Lyric Video) – YouTube
The name HARDY reminded me of my childhood — reading Hardy Boys Mystery stories – beginning with the first one in the series of 58 original titles.
The Tower Treasure, by Franklin W. Dixon—A Project Gutenberg eBook
Hobo Music Video # 1 – Terry Bush Sings Maybe Tomorrow (1979) | The Littlest Hobo Theme Song
Hobo Music Video # 1 – Terry Bush Sings Maybe Tomorrow (1979) | The Littlest Hobo Theme Song
Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan Cover) by Jessica Rhaye and the Ramshackle Parade
Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan Cover) by Jessica Rhaye and the Ramshackle Parade
Makes me cry . . . sweetly cry . . .
Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver (Country Cover by Emily Linge)
Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver (Country Cover by Emily Linge)
Catch the Wind, Donovan. with lyrics
Catch the Wind, Donovan. with lyrics
A few days later, I was wondering why those two dogs approached me – and were being unfriendly. And I remembered this that might have something to do with it. As I was walking earlier that day – on my way to that supermarket – I met a man walking his large e-bike. He wasn’t riding it – only walking it. He was on the sidewalk [where e-bikes are not allowed]; so, for the first time in my life, I spoke up and said: “You shouldn’t be on the sidewalk.” He turned and said something vulgar about not caring. I turned and replied again, “You should” [care]. So, I just wondered if my own outspokenness toward him had something to do with those two dogs being outspoken toward me. It is written: “As you sow so shall you reap.”
In other words: If I speak out to the world, then that may prompt the world to speak out to me.
And that may have something to do with the notion expressed recently in an earlier blog about my life becoming a spiritual mystery.
Gerry & The Pacemakers – You’ll Never Walk Alone [Official Video]
Gerry & The Pacemakers – You’ll Never Walk Alone [Official Video] – YouTube
Ferry Cross The Mersey – Gerry & The Pacemakers (Lyric video) [HQ]
Ferry Cross The Mersey – Gerry & The Pacemakers (Lyric video) [HQ]
Now, I’m thinking of Eileen
Yesterday was her birthday
We’re both 74 now
But only for 36 days
And then I turn 75
Our summer romance happened 52 years ago
In 1974
I’m imagining calling her
And telling her I’d like to talk with her about our years at St. Charles School
When we were children
4th grade through 8th grade
I would also like to tell her about my first 3 years at St. Charles School
The three years before she came to our class – for 5 years.
I imagine Eileen will tell me,
“Mark, you’re living in the Past.”
And I might want to reply,
“Eileen, you’re living in the Past, too –
When you were a third-grade teacher – and you could tell your class not to do this and not to do that. Please, let me speak what’s in my heart and memories about St. Charles School.”
And I imagine Eileen saying:
“No, Mark. You must stop bringing up the Past.”
“Eileen, maybe you don’t understand that I don’t intend to stay in those memories. Maybe, they are only a prompt for us to talk about many other things – such as the Present and the Future – the Here and Now; but, if you insist on being so very strict that you don’t allow any mentioning of memories, then maybe you are being like a policeman in the realm of conversation – stopping cars at the intersection – letting this one come – and then stopping another. That is not the way of life and love, Eileen. You are not the Controller. I’m not your third-grader. We are not in your classroom, Eileen.”
You cannot make Life go the way you say.
We human beings are not the Lord of Life.
We are not the Living Word of God.
When people ask me, “How are you ?” I usually only reply: “OK.”
Afterwards, I imagine a Biblical answer.
I believe it is by the grace of God our Heavenly Father that “we live and move and have our being” — through faith in The Father’s Son – Jesus Christ — the Savior, Redeemer, Good Shepherd – and with the Helper – His Holy Spirit — living in the hearts of all who truly believe in Him – Jesus Christ.
At the last supper
Jesus spoke to His apostles about the coming of the Holy Spirit
John 14-17 ESV
John 14-17 ESV – I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the – Bible Gateway
