One Leg Down

Christy Nichols
6 min readAug 2, 2024

Audio: https://venture-within.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/One-leg-down.m4a

I pulled up the drive to my friend’s beachfront house in my truck and killed the engine. As I opened the door and stepped out, Roo, with unrestrained excitement, leaped from the back seat and into the driver’s seat. She wriggled through my arms to help her down out of the truck, landing boisterously onto the gravel and sand.

She hopped over to my friend Jen, who was approaching from the palm-lined sandy path along the side of her house. Roo had met Jen only once before, but my sweet one-year-old tripawd is an immediate friend to most good souls.

For years, Jen has labeled me as her “happy dancer” friend, mainly due to my jubilant dance moves guided more by joy of the moment, rather than rhythm of the beats.

Roo happily skipped on all three legs to greet Jen, bursting with all the puppy joy in her huge beating heart. My friend’s face lit up in a smile and she said to my puppy, “You are the perfect dog for Christy — so HAPPY!”

Following behind Roo, leash and dog toys in one hand, and a bag full of ingredients for our sunset sangrias in my other, I replied, “Yep! She’s just the same as me, getting through this life, one leg down.”

Without missing a beat, my friend lobbed it back to my court. “Yeah, and not slowing down…

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Christy Nichols

Educator, business owner, writer, do-gooder (mostly), trouble-maker (sometimes). Life Coach, Book Coach, Nicaragua Retreats hosted by www.venture-within.com