I was having a hard time remembering what happend this day, but remembering which days max went surfing has helped jog my memory. he went surfing again at the beach his house looks over, and basically what i then remembered was my episode with his dog that evening. max had some local farmers come over who also do work around his house for him, and he was busy most the day helping them, and i was doing some indoor cleaning and gardening and whatnot. max and the workers didnt get done till later than he intended, so he had to rush down to the beach to catch the last bit of sunlight for surfing. and since he was in a hurry he took a shortcut via the highway instead of our normal treck down the hillside which has to be done slow and cautious, especially if once is carrying a surfboard. thus, he left his dog Nia with me to take down to the beach via the hillside path after i was done doing a little dinner prep. she was a rescue dog who was previously with an abusive family, and although she’s recovered a lot of her confidence, she still kinda goes crazy when max isnt around. unfortunately, she saw max go toward the road before i could take her inside, and when i came back from pick some herbs she bolted out the door as i opened it, and ran straight to the road. i was freaking out afraid she’d run to the road and out of my sight. luckily, after chasing her down the sort of long drive way she stopped at the gate right before the road and allowed me to put her leash on and take her back to the house. she was cowering the whole way. i was ready to go down to the beach at that time, so i took Nia with me. she was obeying me for the most part, but i could tell all that was on her mind was max. she is very familiar with going to the beach down the hill when max surfs, so i was hoping she’d figure it out that i was basically taking her to him. after much coaxing for her to keep following me, we made it to the beach, and i thought we were all good because i was running in the sand with her and she seemed engaged. then i started walking down to the other end of the beach and she bolts back up the hill. i was callling her and belting my lungs out to no avail. i sacrified my beach time because, although i figured she would just be hanging out at the house waiting for max to return, i could not risk her trying to go down the road again to find him. after some fretting, i climbed back up the hill and of course she was just sitting at the front door of the house. i didnt chastise her upon my return, because i could tell she felt guilty for stressing me out so bad. i’m writing about this four days ater it happened, and it is amazing how since then especially (but also from when i just arrived here) her trust in me has grown. it feels good =)
by this time, you’ll just have to assume we are more often than not spending most the morning/early afternoon having leisurely brunch. On Saturday we went to a birthday party for an older woman friend of his who is in her 60’s. it was a fairly intimate affair, with max and me, 3 other couples, the birthday lady, and the family we visited who i mentioned previously, who max brought the flea meds to. this family is very nice, with a sweet 7 y/o boy and beautiful 11 y/o girl. i was surrounded by spanish all night (we got there about 4:30 and left about midnight). for the most part, max speaks to me 70% in english/30% spanish, and i speak to him in all spanish. everyone at the party were wonderful, super kind and very interested in who i was and what i was doing there. so throughout the evening i had the chance to chat with most all the guests, and at one point i played dominoes with the kids and one of the husbands there. max has introduced me to some great people; i think he attracts them because he himself is a great person. i mentioned earlier that he’s shared with me many of his ups/downs/ups in life, and he mentioned once that he was conversing with a good friend about why, given the type of person he is, certain people had done certain things to him over the years. his friend stated pretty simply that people do evil things out of envy. for the life of me i cannot think of how anyone could ever consider treating max in any ill way because he exudes open friendly warmth for his fellow earth-dwellers, and after max mentioned his friend’s response, i’d have to say it must be the explanation. he has an amazing place, personality, and life, and put into that perspective it is a harsh reality that there are just some evil envy-driven people out there. and he has unfortunately crossed the path of some of them.
