A Little Sad

There is a visually impaired lady I have seen around this area for years.  

Or I used to see her around a lot but hadn't until last week when I was driving leaving my place and saw her at a bus stop.  

Now this lady uses a seeing-eye dog to help her navigate (as well as a cane) and this time when I saw her at the bus stop she had a new/different guide dog and it kind of made me sad.

I know dogs have shorter life spans than most humans and I'm glad she still has a service animal to help support her but I feel sad for the loss of the dog I'd seen for years and I would imagine she had some sadness around that loss too.

Now I know it's possible that her old dog has just retired and is still alive and well, but it's been a number of years since I remember seeing her (maybe pre-Covid at least?) and so I would imagine that dog has passed.

It's funny the people we don't know who are still somehow parts of our lives and how we can be sad for beings we've never actually met.