Wednesday Night, June 24th, 7:51PM EST

Atlantic City, New Jersey

I was in Atlantic City on business, and I had been back in my hotel room for about a half hour when my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number and wasn't expecting a call, so I was curious.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is there a Mr. Zak Nilsson there?" spoke a gentle voice with an English accent.

I had no idea who it was and I didn't recognize the voice. "Yeah, this is Zak," I replied.

"Oh hello Zak, this is Gabriel. I'm one of the founders of Best Friends. I just wanted to thank you for your gift to the animals here at the shelter."

There was a moment of silence as my mind tried to figure out what was going on. Why was one of the founders of Best Friends calling me? What gift was he talking about? I had sponsored a couple of the dogs there, but — no, he couldn't really be calling every single person who donates to Best Friends, could he?

"I love Best Friends!" I blurted out in a fit of awkwardness. To understand why I reacted that way, you'd have to understand how much respect I have for the founders, and all the people who helped Best Friends grow to what they are today. I believe that what Best Friends does is monumentally important, so getting a call from one of the founders thanking me — ME — for my relatively paltry donation was blowing my mind. It was so much less than what Best Friends and Gabriel himself had done for so many thousands of animals over the years.

"Do you have any pets at home?" Gabriel asked.

"I have a dog and a cat."

"Well give them a hug for me, would you?"

"I will," I replied, and I meant it.

"Come by and visit next time you're in the area, we'd love to see you again."

"Actually I'll be there this weekend!" I said a little too enthusiastically.

"Oh, well maybe I'll see you here," Gabriel said kindly.

"I love Best Friends," I repeated, not knowing what else to say or how to express everything I felt about Best Friends in that moment.

"Well thank you again for your gift," he said.

"Thanks for calling me," I said. "Good bye."

After we hung up, I sat there just looking at my phone for a few minutes. He really did personally call everybody who made a donation. Suddenly I wanted to be very far away from New Jersey, and back on the trails behind Dogtown.

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