She’s a sweet old dog. It’s taken most all of the eight years since we brought her home to stop being a puppy. She still gets excited when the doorbell rings but life has changed. No longer do I have to call her to know where she is. I just need to look down for she will be just a few feet away. When I come home at night she follows me not only from room to room but also from chair to chair. If I get up in the night and put my feet to the floor often they land on her side. The house is never empty.
As I look at her I realize how quickly these eight years have gone and before another eight shall pass I will have to place her in the back yard beside another such faithful friend. We can keep nothing nor can we keep anyone. A moment of parting will come from everyone we love. Shakespeare once wrote, “This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong. To love well which thou must leave ere long.
I once knew a man who would not allow himself to love because he feared the moment of parting. When I presided over his graveside service there were only a few present and no one wept for he who gives not love receives no love. To love and be loved is true wealth.
Will I miss this old dog when she is gone? Of course I will, but that day of pain has been more than compensated for by thousands of days of love.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 28, 2003.
Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574