This morning I fired up the “Random Word Generator” and came up with the word “Abandoned.”

My goal was to keep this word in the back of my mind and be on the look out for manifestations of it throughout the day. A scavenger hunt of sorts.

I knew I would have no trouble finding at least one or two examples in the form of buildings if nothing else.

My dog Herbie was the one to lay claim to the word first when, in the garden, he tried to make friends with a flying insect who soon left him alone and searching the skies.

Searching the skies like Fox Mulder from the X-Files watching for UFOs, abandoned and awaiting the return of his sister.

Searching the skies like a sailor on the open sea, navigating by landmarks, rendered blind when they abandon him behind a blanket of fog.

Searching the skies, fists raised, raging at God and the heavens, abandoned by prayers unanswered.

Searching the skies like a dog, who wants nothing more than to be friends with something a fraction of his size but gifted with wings.

Here’s the thing sweet dog of mine.

Even abandoned things are never really alone.

Never completely isolated.

Completely devoid of belonging.

Abandoned things come from a lineage of loneliness. They come from something and will return to something.

Abandoned things left unattended still belong, if you follow the paper trail, to someone and nature will ultimately reclaim them as her own at some point in the line of succession.

Insects with wings belong to the sky.

And you, dog of mine, belong to the Earth.

For this brief moment in the span of the Universe, you belong to this time and this place.

For now, you belong to me and I will never abandon you.

•