nbsp;     It was late October in Southern Alabama. I walked along the sandy beach in my old brown shoes. Taking my dog, Yooper, for his morning walk, the red sunrise excelled any other I had seen that week. 

            “Come on, Yooper, let’s go.” He was checking out every bush along the path to the beach. When we got to the water’s edge, I took Yooper’s lead off so he could run to his heart’s content. He raced back and forth and chased a seagull. If dogs could smile, and I think they do, this dog was laughing out loud.

            While walking early in the morning, I always looked for some new shells that had washed up on the beach. The darkness made it unusually difficult to spot shells that morning. I ventured out a little nearer to the water than I would have when a wave, all of a sudden, sloshed up covering my shoes. I tried to shake off the grit that clung to my soggy sox. As I was shaking my toe, I spotted something nearby that looked like gold. I dug it out of the sand and held it in my hand turning it repeatedly. I washed off the sand that still clung to it. My imagination ran wild. I visualized having found a gold coin from a long ago sunken ship—or maybe from a pirate’s stash. Alternatively, I wondered just what else it could be.

            Examining the object in my hand, the sunrise unfolded into daylight. In the light, I immediately recognized what it was that I held in my hand. Although it was flat like a coin, and gold colored, what do you suppose it was? My treasure happened to be a flat, gold colored button.

            A little disappointed, I slipped the button into my pocket. It was my treasure for the day.

            Come on, Yooper!” I said, “We’ve both had our adventure for the day.            “Let’s go home,” I said.

            We started walking up the path toward home ready to continue our day.