Rusty

INTRODUCTION Before Rusty entered my life, I had the pleasure of owning three other dogs. All of them were affectionate, intelligent and wonderful pets. The same can be said of Rusty with one additional fact: he became one of my greatest spiritual teachers. This terrier-chow-angel mix of a dog taught me lessons in trust, unconditional love, surrender and forgiveness. We shared many adventures; I rescued him three times -- two of which are recounted in the following story. For his part, he sometimes rescued me from loneliness, boredom and sadness. I can honestly say that my faith was greatly strengthened because of this magical and amazing dog’s presence in my life. He brought me many moments of pure joy. Together we experienced God’s grace, His loving protection -- and the presence of angels. For this I will always be grateful. EXCERPTS FROM TWO CHAPTERS “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” -- Anatole France This story is about a very special part of my spiritual journey, and how I walked it accompanied by a beautiful and loveable dog named Rusty. It all began when I was living with my Dad, Alexander Boynton, in Brooklyn, N.Y. One day I returned home from New York City and was surprised to find a cute and friendly dog in the yard. He had been given to Dad by my niece Chantal and her mother because they were about to move into an apartment complex that had a ‘no pets allowed’ policy. Dad said that a woman who lived across the street was going to take him -- after she had a fence built. Twelve joyful years later, Rusty was still with us. This loving, funny, magical and playful dog earned nicknames like “My Sweet Puppito,” “My Hunk of Burnin’ Furry Love” (thanks Elvis), “The Puppy Dog Love of My Life” and my favorite: “God’s Puppy.” I used to say his name was “Rustipher Pierre – Rusty, for short.” He loved to cuddle. He would also walk up to me and simply lean against my leg. One of his favorite love moves was to walk over to you while you were seated and walk one way while rubbing against your legs, then turn around and walk back the other way - repeating this gesture. I soon decided that this was his way of giving me hugs. There is a driveway between Dad’s house and the next door neighbor’s. At the front of it is a locked gate. The side door on our house faces the side door of theirs. Dad didn’t see any reason to keep this door locked during the daytime. Rusty would simply let himself out and scratch on the door when he wanted to come back inside. He had an energetic fan club of little children. Every day, on their way home from school, they would loudly call his name. Then he would let himself out and run to the gate to greet them. They all seemed to be talking to him at once, as they pet him through the gate. This was a daily routine. All of the neighbors adored him. One of them volunteered to walk him and another would bring him food. Dad, of course, kept him well fed with dog food as well as food from the dinner table. Even after one of the neighbors moved away, he would come back to visit his family and still take time to walk Rusty. I loved to take him for long walks. When we got home he would try to stay out longer by swinging me around so that we could walk some more. Many times, during these walks, people would say that he looked like a lion. Many times he did - especially when the hair around his neck grew long and actually looked like a lion’s mane. At night Rusty would sleep in the bedroom with me. When I went away, he would sleep in Dad’s room. I’m a professional singer and sometimes I’d go on extended tours out of the country. Whether I was returning from the airport or from the local subway, I would always look for Rusty at the front gate before entering the house. We’d say our hellos through the gate and then I would go into the house while he barked loudly until I let him in -- then there would be doggie kisses and yes, Rusty style hugs. One evening we were walking around the corner from the house when suddenly a car came to a screeching halt. It narrowly missed hitting a toy poodle. The owner ran out into the street and picked up her dog. Seeing that the little dog was safe, we continued our walk. We walked for several blocks and then turned around and headed back towards the house. All of a sudden I heard someone yelling. I looked across the street and there was the same woman holding the little dog in her arms. She was saying: “wait.” Of course we did. She crossed the street, stooped down and placed her dog’s face near Rusty’s. Then she said: “you almost got killed trying to see him – so there he is!” She introduced her dog as Bijou and explained that every time she walked past Dad’s house, her dog would pull her in the direction of the gate so that she could see Rusty. Seeing him outside of the gate got her so excited that she threw caution to the winds and risked her life to be near him. Rusty’s fans were not just humans. Another evening, I was on the phone trying to reach a customer service representative at one of my credit card companies – a rather frustrating task. I was given one prompt after another. If it’s this: press one, for that: press two. “Calls will be answered in the order received. Please stay on the line, a representative will be with you shortly.” I was getting more and more frustrated and tired of holding the phone. All I wanted was a human voice to take my call and answer a simple question. I must have been on hold for at least fifteen minutes! Suddenly Rusty walked in, joyfully wagging his tail, stepping on the phone wire and disconnecting the call! After two seconds of shock, all I could do was laugh and hug him. He was so cute