A Minnesota-born ambassador and a long lost puppy
The Thread Must-Read from Kerri Miller this week features the true-life story of a faraway place, a Minnesota-born ambassador and a lost puppy.
The email from a listener had me at puppy and Nepal. Yep, give me a tale about an orphaned dog in a far-off place and I’m all yours.
But this story is extraordinary, so listen:
Ambassador Scott DeLisi was born and raised in Minnesota, trained as a diplomat and posted by President Obama to Nepal. On this day he was on a remote mountain trek to the famous walled city of Lo Manthang.
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To get there, he and his friends would pass through the small village of Saukre.
Unbeknownst to the ambassador, a small thickly-furred, blue-eyed puppy awaited. He’d been found on a mountain trail, hungry and shivering, by a teenager, who fed and protected him.
But that puppy had a restless heart and a seeking spirit and somehow he knew that life held another adventure.
As DeLisi and his friends trekked into the village, our narrator describes their first meeting: “The pup mustered all the dignity that a five-week-old puppy could muster. He sat still. But his heart raced. He met the man’s eyes and held them and, for the first time, the puppy spoke.
“The man’s name was Scott. He was the man to whom the wind carrying the puppy’s dream had whispered weeks before in Kathmandu.”
Scott DeLisi’s book, “The Ambassador’s Dog,” is illustrated with vivid drawings by Jane Lillian Vance, that capture the mystery and beauty of Nepal’s culture, landscape and animal life.
The ambassador himself is rendered in hiking gear with a snow white beard and a walking stick.
And the puppy is captivating with his pink tongue and startlingly blue eyes and indomitably curious expression.
“If you agree,” Scott tells the puppy, I would like to call you ‘Lo Khyi’ because you are not only a dog from Lo but you are also, for me, the happiness of Lo and you always will be.”
Where is Lo Khyi today? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out!
If you have a young reader in your life, my Thread Must Read is Scott DeLisi’s “The Ambassador’s Dog,” illustrated by Jane Lillian Vance.