Editor’s note — This column was originally written in February of 2022. It is a follow-up to the author’s column last week that was originally written in August of 2021 about his dog’s passing.

As many of you who read my site regularly know, I lost my beloved dog Sparky recently. The Spark brought a great deal of good feelings to people everywhere he went and to people from all over the world who read my stories about him. I have messages from Belgium, Britain, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Armenia and many other countries explaining to me how my Sparky stories brightened their day in some small way, sometimes exactly when they needed it.

If you’ve never heard about Sparky, you can read something I wrote after he passed away that will explain what he meant to me. I called it A Letter to Sparky and you can read it on my website (or The Times-Gazette website). Just type A Letter To Sparky in the search box on my Shoe: Untied website.

But today was perhaps the most powerful reminder of what a special little dog he was. There is a bike path I like to walk near where I live, and when I saw an elderly gentleman walking towards me from the opposite direction with his dog, of course I had to stop. The dog was a little Yorkie and just as cute as a button. As I knelt down to pet him, I could tell the little guy was just a pup. As I rubbed him behind the ears, I told the man that I’d lost my dog a few months ago and how much I still missed him.

The man replied, “I know. You’re Sparky’s dad.”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when people recognize me as Spark’s dad, but it still touched me deeply. As usual I got a little teary-eyed as I stood and shook the gentleman’s hand. But then he said this:

“I’m glad I ran into you. My wife passed away last May. She was a huge dog lover. In her last few weeks I used to read her your stories about Sparky and it always made her feel better. Every story made her smile. We both loved him without ever having met him. After she passed I got this little dog right here. It sure helps having him around.”

Don’t I know it, sir. Don’t I know it.

Well, if I was a little teary-eyed before that I was a lot teary-eyed afterwards. I had this huge smile on my face as I told the guy I’m glad Sparky helped he and his wife a little during an obviously tough time. I also told him how much it meant to me, but The Spark was the guy responsible. I was simply recounting his stories. After a few more minutes of chit-chat we both went our separate ways, but after a few steps I heard the man call back to me:

“Don’t you want to know what I named this little guy?

Before he answered, I already knew.

“Sparky.”

Dave Shoemaker is a retired teacher, athletic director and basketball coach with most of his professional years spent at Paint Valley. He also served as the national basketball coach for the island country of Montserrat in the British West Indies. He lives in Southern Ohio with his best friends and companions, his dogs Sweet Lilly and Hank. He can be reached at https://shoeuntied.wordpress.com/.