Your Napkins Are Safe
We finally went back to swimming today. We went AWOL a couple of weeks ago, apparently right after they started taking attendance with a daily check off grid. There were a lot of white boxes between check marks. It’s what happens though when you’ve been stuffed up and hacking up a lung for the last two weeks. My greatest fear is that it happened when I turned 50. I won’t fall apart that fast, will I?
We said good bye to part of the family this weekend. Reese hurt himself on Friday and even after a visit to the vet and some treatment and drugs, didn’t improve over the weekend. We’ve been waiting for this to happen, knowing that we were coming to a time when we would have to make a decision, mostly because of his age.
He lived a full life. He loved food, loved chasing scents. He was in heaven a couple of weeks ago when we had balloons that he could chase and burst. He was a cuddler and loved to have the back of his ears scratched. He never was much of a kisser and loved grumbling more than talking. Until the end he was a good dog, even when the pain was too much and he was really suffering.
Monday afternoon was a time of taking down gates and opening the house up for the first time in the 9 years we’ve lived here. There’s no more “We gotta go, Reeser.” and watching him trot to his crate for a treat. Tuesday morning I was reminded that the newspaper bags can be pitched, not used to pick up after him on our walks. There are no more insistent brown eyes prompting me to take him outside, no more whimpers from below as we eat dinner and he encourages us to share.
Sometime down the road we’ll decide it’s time again; that we want to go out for a walk in the predawn and the dusk, that we miss the feel of a soft coat under our fingers and the sight of a wagging tail from someone glad to see us when we walk in the door. But for now, we’ll be happy to remember. He was a good boy.
p.s. The title? His favorite thing was to shred napkins. It didn't matter whose lap they were in, they weren't safe. Silly dog.