I have always been a walker and a looker. Some people walk for exercise, some walk to clear their heads, and some walk because the dog has made it abundantly clear that the house is no longer acceptable. I walk for all those reasons, I suppose, but mostly I walk because the world keeps leaving small clues at my feet.

The question was about the best thing I ever found in the street, and that sounds simple enough until memory starts rambling along beside me. I have found plenty over the years. When I was a kid, back when cash was king and a dollar still had some muscle on it, I found a twenty-dollar bill. I can still remember the shock of it, the thrill of it, the almost criminal excitement of holding that much money in my hand. Back then, twenty dollars felt like a hundred does now, maybe more if you were young enough to measure wealth in candy, Cokes, and possibilities.

I have found knives too, including a pocketknife that made me wonder about the person who lost it. Was it missed right away? Did someone pat their pocket at the end of the day and feel that small sinking disappointment? I have found spare change, old Coke bottles we could turn in for nickels, and the kind of little roadside treasures that made a walk feel like a scavenger hunt arranged by chance.

These days, sadly, the streets and roads I travel most often do not offer much treasure. Mostly, they offer trash. Bottles, cans, wrappers, bags, cups—things tossed out as if the land itself were a garbage can with no lid and no feelings. I do not understand it. Why throw something out the window when you could take it home and put it where it belongs? Litter gives a place a tired look. It piles up like proof of laziness, carelessness, and a lack of respect for nature. It makes me sad in a way that is hard to shake.

But if the question is the best thing I ever found in the street, then the answer is not money, not bottles, not pocket knifes, and not anything shiny enough to catch the sun.

The best things I ever found had names… They are Jake and Jetson.

There is a sad and awful truth in this world… some people throw away animals as if they are litter too. Dogs and cats are left beside the road, confused and waiting, still believing with all their hearts that the human who drove away might come back. That is the part that hurts most. They do not understand being discarded. Their love is unconditional, and sometimes it is given to people who never deserved it.

Jake and Jetson were throwaways, but they are not throwaways now. They are my buddies, my snuggle bugs, and my protectors of the acres and the home. They are my heart. I cannot imagine how anyone could leave them in the road, but I can imagine my life without them even less.

Not all my walking happens beside roads. More often, I walk trails and country paths, places where the world is quieter and kinder underfoot. There I find nature instead of neglect. I see hawks circling overhead, tiny lizards sunning themselves, frogs springing away as I come too close, and the remains of a bird’s nest knocked from the trees by a storm. I see flowers blooming along the edge of the woods, ants building a new mound with more determination than most of us can manage before coffee, and the occasional rabbit disappearing into the brush as if it has somewhere important to be.

In the woods, I see life. Along the roads, too often, I see the remnants of it. Maybe that is why I look down so much. I have lived with balance trouble for more than half my life, so looking where I step is not just a habit, but it is a necessity. It has taught me something. When you look down, you notice more than hazards. You notice the small, strange, beautiful evidence that the world is still busy being the world.

So take a walk sometime and try looking down instead of always looking ahead. You might find a coin, a lost pocketknife, a bottle from another era, or just a tiny flower blooming where no one planted it. You might find something that makes you laugh, something that makes you wonder, or something that breaks your heart wide open.

And if you are very lucky, you might even find love waiting on the side of the road, wagging its tail…