CONCRETE

I once had a light gray colored dog-named Concrete. He was the same color as a sidewalk. I assume he lived a good while on the sidewalk part of town before he showed up at our place. He had little about him that would distinguish him from a slab of concrete. He was just a kind of gray immovable object.

‘Concrete is the second-most-used substance, the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactured material in the world.’ (Wikipedia) It could also be the most commonly bred dog in the world. The two match very well. Gray nothingness.

As Roz and I sat looking and thinking about ‘our new dog’ that just showed up (or in concrete language ‘just set up’) at our house; we went forth and back and back and forth on naming him Sidewalk or Concrete. We finally decided on Concrete. He is the same color of a Mouse or a Sidewalk… blank Gray. But we decided on Concrete for his name primarily because he was so blasted hardheaded. As much as any animal could be…except maybe Mules.

Old Concrete sent me over to the other side of the Pond many times to have Cuban Coffee and Apple Fritters and sit and think of something positive about him. I suppose it was that he was like a driveway, sidewalk, or highway or house foundation…strong, quiet and unnoticed but needed… it was a gray dog we fed.

This story about Concrete might be true.

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.” Jesus