Of Tweets and Dogs

. . . or, "Reason #647 Why I Love Twitter So Darned Much."

Meet Gracie the Dog. (Well, if you've already visited this blog, or follow us on Twitter, you've already met.)

Gracie the Dog came to us as a seven-month-old rescue puppy. Now she's almost nine-years-old. From the beginning, Gracie has been a trial, a wonder, a teacher -- and always, always, always the most earnest being filled with more affection and enthusiasm than seems humanly possible.

In other words, she is a dog.

Really, seriously, does anything get any better than a dog?

Our grown-up kids used to say when they'd visit, "You love that dog more than you love us." To which I could not really say anything. (Which is probably why they don't say it any more.)

Because, come on.

Do members of your family leap off the couch and wag their tails in sheer delight JUST BECAUSE YOU WALK IN THE FRONT DOOR? Nope. And when you get back into the car after running in to the post office, do members of your family JUMP INTO THE FRONT SEAT AND KISS YOU? No, they do not.

But guess what?

I have found the place where humans are as kind, enthusiastic and generous as dogs.

That's right. It's Twitter. (And it should come as no surprise that a sizable percentage of tweets are ABOUT dogs -- folks walking them, photos of them, tweets about love for them.)

(This is Poncho, the great dog of my Twitter friend @Sally_K, who kindly put his foot on top of mine at a tweet-up this fall. To love and protect me.)

Because here's how Twitter works -- as illustrated by events that delighted and amazed me earlier this week.

I tweeted from Whole Foods at 8:00 p.m. on Monday night that, in fact, that was the best-ever time to shop there: empty-aisles easiness.

Within minutes, I got a tweet back from my fellow Marin tweep (and fabulous friend) @dianefischler . . . could I buy a cold remedy there for her husband (and fellow fabulous tweep) @ken_homer?

I did, and dropped it off at their house.

That is it. Just an errand you do on your way home.

BAM!!!!! TAIL-WAGGING BAM-ITUDE!!!!

Those two wonderful tweeps posted tweets about me like I was some rockstar. "Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping us!!!"

In other words, they were JUST AS KIND AND EARNEST AS OUR DOG FRIENDS.

Okay, and THAT would have been enough, right there.

BUT THERE'S MORE!!!

Eight more people fired off tweets before I even drove all the way home: "YOU ARE SO NICE!!! WAY TO GO!!!!"

See what I'm saying? Twitter is where humans are their very best dog-like selves: enthusiastic, kind, generous, earnest, and jumping right into the front seat to give you a big kiss just because they're happy you got back in the car.

We need more of this in life.

I'll start.

Here's a big, earnest swack on the cheek for reading this post, and for rocking on with your bad selves :)

And you can't see it, but my tail is wagging.