TRANSCRIPT
Friends come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’d like to tell the story of a friend I made when I was traveling up in the country of Georgia, in northern Georgia, in the mountains of Spanetti. I was going on a hike from a town called Ush Ghouli to a glacier. I heard there was a glacier; I heard you could go and visit it.
I walked for several miles out of the town, beyond any people. I saw no people for hours, and then out at one random moment, I made a friend. Someone is coming to find me! Looks like I have a new friend. I have no idea where this creature is going, but apparently, this poor creature has decided that we are friends. I’m like literally miles from, uh, anywhere. Oh, baby has a bad back leg. Well, it’s nice to have a friend.
I was like, “Whose puppy is this?” Well, this puppy and I bonded. I think she wanted two things from me: she wanted company and friendship, but I think she also wanted food. She was so skinny. So I had packed a little lunch for myself, mostly some bread and some beans, and I shared the bread and beans with this puppy, and she was so happy.
But together we hiked for hours. We went way up into this glacier and hiked beyond, beyond where you’re even supposed to go, way up on top of the glacier, walking upon the rock and the ice—the rocks on the ice—because it was all ice on top of this glacier. We walked for so far beyond anything, beyond any trails or where anybody I think really ever goes. My little friend, she joined me, and we had such fun.
I was actually kind of glad to have her along, ’cause I thought, “Gosh, if anything happens, you know, at the very least I can write a little note and tie it on her neck, and she hopefully can go back to civilization and send somebody to rescue me,” because there was no cell phone service where we were.
Well, here I am again, sitting on top of a rock on top of the snow, which is sitting on top of a glacier, and I am right next to a glacial river. I couldn’t see it at all, but I could hear it. Then I moved a bunch of these big rocks that you see, and I exposed the river about somewhere between three inches and six inches below the surface under the rocks. It’s all glacier. This is a giant huge slab of ice that I’m sitting on, and snow too.
Well, when I did have my lunch, I shared some snacks with her, and at one point, she was a little too hungry, and she bit my finger, and I bled a little bit. I thought, “Gosh, I hope she doesn’t have rabies.” And well, it’s now a couple of months later; I never did get rabies, so I am okay.
And then when my hike was done, at one random moment, suddenly she just ran off. I thought, “Oh, she’ll come back,” but she didn’t. I was like, “Where did she go? Where does she live? Where does she get the rest of her food?” I have no idea. I have no idea how to answer any of these questions.
But in Georgia and a lot of other countries that I was recently traveling in, and in my travels around the world, I see a lot of dogs who don’t have a human home, who don’t have human owners, or, well, whatever, even human friends sometimes. But they’ll maybe make a friend for a few hours here and there, get a little food, have a little human bonding, and then go off.
So I never did know where she lives or who she lives with or who her other friends are, but for a couple of hours, she was my beloved friend, and I really did love her. I felt she loved me for a little while for our little trip together, and she posed for some really wonderful pictures.
[Music]