What's that bewitching scent you're wearing?

So, Mr. Wonderful and I had a rough week. The sort of week where one of you expresses the need to figure out if this relationship is working and if you should stay together.

I was, shall we say, completely devastated.

After a few gut-wrenching days, we started to turn the corner on Friday morning. I was almost an hour late leaving for work, but I didn't care.

Turns out my timing was just right.

As I was getting ready to turn out of Mr. Wonderful's subdivision onto a busy, four-lane, 45-mph road, I saw a large yellow lab sniffing around. Alone.

I rolled down my window and she gave me that look.

I called out. She ran to me. She had a collar with a nearby address. Her name was Bailey. She got in the car.

And only then, when she was trying to burrow under the seat of my Honda, did I realize that she was roughly the size of an Econoline van. Gorgeous dog. Very, very, very large dog. Rather damp dog.

Nobody was home. Nobody answered the number on the tag, either. I called Mr. Wonderful, who was working from home.

"Hi, honey. I'm a few blocks away and I'm coming back to the house. Uh ... I found a dog."

"Chaaaaa Chaaaaaaaa ..."

"No, no, no! She's got a collar and she lives in the neighborhood and she just needs someplace to stay until her parents can pick her up. We won't keep her, I swear."

I pulled into his driveway and he came out. "Cha Cha, she's bigger than you are!"

My new hefty friend was very excited to hang in Mr. Wonderful's garage. I left the two of them and drove to work, very, very late, in the Friday morning sunshine.

The only other time I've found a dog was the day after I got laid off four years ago. I was in shock and barely functioning, then this starving Ridgeback greeted me when I went out to get the paper. That dog, who was later adopted and named Rufus, gave me something to focus on. But he was also a sign that in spite of the crappiness of the immediate situation, very good things were on the horizon.

So, when I drove to work on Friday, I knew that Mr. Wonderful and I would work through our issues. And very good things are on the horizon.

And then, I spent the rest of the day smelling vaguely of wet yellow lab. It was a good day.