We see them everywhere. Homeless vets with signs on the corners. Usually I ignore them.
Today was different. I pulled into the McDonalds drive-through and the dogs immediately caught my attention. The man was sitting tailor fashion sipping coffee and loving the dogs. They were so playful and attentive to this homeless Veteran of Viet Nam. Out of the norm for me, I drove around the building again and handed this gent a twenty, saying, "please take care of your dogs." His response was lucid and exact: "I will".
Wanting to ask if he would pose with his dogs for a picture, but afraid to do so, I rounded the building again and stopped in the parking lot. Todays image is from this vantage. Notice the man is not in the frame? After a minute of watching 2 healthy, happy dogs playing, I had to pull out of the way. The man then emerges from the restaurant and begins feeding his dogs the hamburgers he just bought. LB was with me in the car today, I could feel her there when she asked me to round the building and help the Vet and his dogs.
There was such devotion and love in the way they both looked at the dirty, homeless man it made my eyes fill with tears. I could not force myself to raise the camera to take another picture. I watched for a few minutes and drove on. Feeling that LB was smiling and thinking that a dog is never homeless with a loving master. Roof or no roof.